Miles From Where You Are
by My Wonky Socks
Summary: Katlyn Prentiss and Mick Rawson meet in the FBI Academy, two years later Katlyn joins the BAU in Quantico, where her sister Emily also works. Katlyn and Mick's paths cross again.    **Previously Ride Of Your Life
1. Chapter 1 Change

**Chapter 1. Change**

"_People underestimate their capacity for change. There is never a right time to do a difficult thing." John Porter_

Twenty-two year old Katlyn Prentiss stood beside two other members of the FBI Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia, they made up the three members who would be training to become snipers. Petite and brunette with wide brown eyes, Katlyn was the only girl within the group. She'd already been told that her chances of making it were slim, very few females tried to be snipers let along made it, but she was determined.

When the instructor came in she was fairly surprised, he was young, probably in his mid- twenties and he was incredibly good looking. She immediately felt nervous as he surveyed the small group, sizing them up, his eyes lingering briefly on her.

"I'm Agent Mick Rawson and if you're standing in front of me then I assume your aspirations are to be a sniper, I won't lie you've chosen one of the hardest fields in the FBI, and chances are you won't all make it, though as your instructor I hope you do. I'm not trying to bring you down, but sharp-shooting isn't easy." he told the group, his voice, Katlyn noticed contained a British lilt.

He lined them up in the shooting range and handed out rifles, "Today I just want to see what you can do without any instruction," he said, "Now you never know when your target is going to move forward or backward or to the side."

Katlyn took a deep breath, studying the target intently, before raising the rifle to aim. She hit most of the targets without a lot of problems, some of them were more tricky. Agent Rawson had been working with the guys and Katlyn, at the last spot on the range, was acutely aware of his presence when he reached her.

"It appears you know what you're doing." he complimented, hitting a button that caused the targets to move faster and in more than one direction at once. "Let's see how you do now."

Katlyn took aim and fired in rapid succession, hitting three of the five moving targets.

"Nice work." he said with a small nod before walking off.

She felt a surge of pride, she'd heard rumors about Agent Rawson, he was one of the best, coming to the FBI straight out of the British Special Forces, and didn't give compliments easily.

**Three Days Later**

Katlyn ran along one of the trails behind the academy, she'd gotten out of classes and wasn't in the mood to head back to her apartment. She'd already run about a mile and stopped to readjust her IPOD which was trying to come loose from its clip on her waistband. When a hand touched her shoulder she jumped and almost tripped as she spun around to find Agent Rawson was behind her.

"I apologize for scaring you," he said with a small smile, "I called to you but.."

"It's fine, I wouldn't have heard anything," she said, holding up one of the earbuds.

"It's a good way to clear your head," he said.

"Which one, the music or the running?" she asked, unsure which he was referring to.

"Both really," he said with a laugh.

Katlyn shifted slightly on her feet, "Agent Rawson, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, and please it's Mick."

She nodded, "I know we've only been working for a few days, but do you think I have what it takes to be a sniper?"

"Between you and me, you're the best in your class, I don't think you have what it takes, I know you do, but if you're worried I'd be happy to work with you after class, one on one."

"That would be great," she said with a smile, "Thank you."

"How about we start tomorrow night, say six o'clock?"

"Sounds perfect."

The next evening Katlyn was at the shooting range by 5:45, as she walked up she could hear firing already coming from inside. She went inside to find Mick was the one shooting, sitting her bag down, she sat on a bench to watch. He was good, she didn't see him miss a target. Several minutes later he put the gun down and removed his headphones and goggles.

"Nice work," Katlyn said, rising to her feet.

He turned around, and smiled, "You're early, I like that."

She felt herself blush slightly and swallowed before speaking next, "So, how long before I can do that," she asked motioning to the target he was taking off the rack.

"At the rate you're going, maybe a month. Get your goggles and headphones on." he told her, looking over his shoulder as he reset the target.

She quickly grabbed a set, and slid them on.

"Ok, so what's the biggest thing you were told to remember when shooting a hand gun?"

"Front sight, trigger press, follow through,"

"Good, that doesn't change much with a sniper rifle, you just have a little help with the front sight," he said gesturing to the scope before handing her the gun. "Get in position like you're going to shoot."

She listened and walked over to one of the targets, raising the gun in front of her.

"Fire," he told her.

She did, hitting most of the targets, but not all like he had. He reset and changed the speed seeing where her strengths and weaknesses lay.

"You did good," he told her just over an hour later as they walked back from the range.

"Thanks," she said, looking over at him.

"So what made you decide to join the FBI?" he asked

She laughed, "Parents day in the third grade, one of my classmates dad's talked to us, he was in the FBI, missing/exploited children. Listening to him talk that day, I knew I wanted to do that, help people like he was."

"That's pretty impressive for an eight year old, most girls that age still want to be rockstars or princesses."

"My mom is a foreign diplomat, which meant I grew up understanding rockstars and princesses weren't exactly viable options for a career. By the time I was twelve I was fluent in three languages."

"Wow, so you had to grow up fast." he said looking over at her.

"Yeah, always act mature, you never know when the media's watching or mommy's going to bring a governor or somebody home. I don't think there was a day growing up I didn't hear that."

"So your family moved around a lot?"

"All the time, by the time I graduated high school I had attended over twenty schools. There wasn't time for making friends or memories for that matter with my mom's work." she said, shaking her head softly.

"That's kind of sad," he said placing a hand on her shoulder, "I couldn't imagine not having been able to grow up with my friends."

When Katlyn got to her car, she sat behind the wheel for several minutes before starting it, she'd never opened up to anyone the way she just had Mick. What was so different about him?


	2. Chapter 2 Our Kind Of Love

**Chapter 2. Our Kind Of Love**

"_I don't pretend to know what love is for everyone, but I can tell you what it is for me; love is knowing all about someone, and still wanting to be with them more than any other person, love is trusting them enough to tell them everything about yourself, including the things you might be ashamed of, love is feeling comfortable and safe with someone, but still getting weak knees when they walk into a room and smile at you." Unknown_

Katlyn sat cross-legged on the bed in her apartment reading the packet of papers they'd all been sent home. They were supposed to choose a teacher to mentor them, someone to help them in their specialization, she knew exactly who she wanted, she also knew of two fellow classmates who would want the same person. She had an advantage though, she was meeting him in an hour for their one-on-one session.

She got off her bed and changed into a tank top and track pants, pulling her hair off her neck in a high ponytail. Mick was there already, leaning against the side of the building. They went through almost two hours of practice that day, she was exhausted by the time they were finished.

"So, I had a favor to ask," she said, as they were packing up.

"What's that?" he asked, looking over.

"We got the letters today, asking us to choose mentors…"

"And you were hoping I would be yours," he said with that cocky, self assured grin, she'd become used to.

"Why don't you just jump to conclusions one time," she said with a laugh, "maybe I was hoping you'd put in a good word for me with another teacher."

"But you're not," he said, "I would be happy to be your mentor Katlyn,"

Katlyn sighed, "Thank you."

**One Week Later**

"_Show me, who you are, stop me before I go too far, cuz it hurts, to hold back, so hold me or I might crack. I'm gasoline, you're the match, I'm not sure if we could handle that, it might explode, could be a mess I say we take the chance" Alexz Johnson_

Katlyn was getting more and more frustrated by the second, she was so close to hitting all the targets it wasn't funny.

"Ok, what am I doing wrong?" she asked frustrated.

"It's all in the way you hold the gun," he said coming up behind her, "Alright, go ahead and aim like you've been doing."

She raised the gun in front of her, then his hands were on hers moving them slowly into position. Katlyn could feel her pulse quicken and her heart racing erratically, she shouldn't feel this way, not with him, her teacher, her mentor. Everything in her wanted to turn around and kiss him, to feel his lips and body pressed against hers. She was fighting to control herself as his hands guided her arms and hands into position.

"Now fire," he said, once he had her adjusted.

She almost laughed, she was still shaking from his touch, she'd be lucky to get within twenty feet of the target. Taking a deep breath, she raised the gun in fire, surprised when the bullet went through the dead center of the target, even more surprised when she hit all five in a row.

"See there, I told you you'd get it," he said with a smile.

"Yes, and it's all thanks to you, I'm eternally indebted," she said sarcastically.

At that moment she needed more than anything to get out of there and get hold of herself. She couldn't be affected by him this way, he was her teacher, and that was a line she couldn't cross, no matter how much at that moment she wanted to.

"You in any hurry to go home?" Mick asked, locking the gun locker.

_What is he a mind reader or something? _Katlyn thought to herself.

"Not really, did you want to go over something else?" she asked.

"No, I was just going to grab a bite to eat, and I thought you might like to join me."

_No, that would be a really bad idea, _she thought to herself, while everything else inside her was screaming yes.

"I'd like that," she said, smiling.

He led her out to the parking lot, "We may need to take your car, I don't know how you feel about motorcycles."

Clinging to Mick's waist on the back of a motorcycle, there were definitely worse things she could think of. Her heart accelerated just at the thought.

"Either's fine," she said trying to play it cool.

"Well then," he walked over to a sleek looking black bike, and pulled two helmets from a compartment under the seat, tossing one to her.

She strapped the helmet on and slid on the back of the bike wrapping her arms around Mick's waist as he pulled off. The wind played at the ends of her hair as they sped downtown. By the time they got to the restaurant her heart and pulse were racing wildly. The first thing Katlyn realized when she took off her helmet was that they weren't at a restaurant, or at least not the kind she'd been expecting, they were at a nightclub.

"I thought we were going to get something to eat?" she asked handing him the helmet.

"Believe it or not I haven't found a place with better food than here."

"I'll take your word for it," she said following him inside.

Music pulsated as he led her to a corner table in the back. He handed her a folded paper menu from between the salt and pepper shakers, she decided on a cheeseburger, and Mick disappeared to the bar to order their food.

They had finished eating and were sitting when the table talking when a tall, blonde came up, Katlyn couldn't help noting she looked like a supermodel.

"Mick," she purred his name, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Dominique, how are you?"

Katlyn was all to aware of his eyes giving Dominique a very suggestive once over as he spoke. _This is fun, _she thought to herself sarcastically.

"Good," she said with a very seductive smile, "We should get together soon,"

_Why don't you just jump him right here, _Katlyn thought wryly, getting more annoyed at the girl by the second.

"We should, I'll give you a call soon," he replied.

"I look forward to it," she said sauntering off.

"Sorry about that," Mick said turning back to her, and extending a hand, "Would you like to dance?"

"Absolutely," she said, placing her hand in his and liking way too much the feel of his fingers curled around hers.

Their bodies fell into an easy rhythm against each other. She turned to where her back was against him and he put his hand on her stomach, sliding it under the fabric of her tank top so that it rested on bare skin. After awhile he took her hand and spun her back to where she was facing him, his other hand resting on her rib cage. Her eyes came up to meet his, finding a hunger and desire that she'd been feeling since the shooting range present in his eyes. He dropped hand and put his on her waist, pulling her against him and pressing his lips hard against hers. She responded aggressively, letting her tongue trace his lower lip. An electric shock coursed through her body as he parted her lips and slid his tongue in her mouth, and she felt his hand begin gently fondling her breast trough her tank top. Forgetting completely that they were in a night club full of people, she expertly pulled herself up so that her legs were wrapped around his waist, not once breaking the kiss.

When he finally pulled away they were both breathing heavily. Katlyn unwrapped her legs and let her feet find the floor again.

"I shouldn't have let that happen," Mick said shaking his head, "I'm sorry."

Katlyn almost laughed, "Trust me when I say you have nothing to apologize for."

"I'm your teacher."

"I won't tell if you want," she said playfully.

He sighed, "I should get you out of here."

"Mmm, my place or yours?" she teased, knowing very well that wasn't what he meant.

"Katlyn…"

"_Just like driving on an open highway, never knowing what we're gonna find. Just like two kids, baby, always trying to live it up, yeah, that's our kind of love" Lady Antebellum _


	3. Chapter 3 Here You Come Again

_**Chapter 3. Here You Come Again**_

_"__You can close your eyes to the things you do not want to see, but you cannot close your heart to the things you do not want to feel."_

When Katlyn woke up the next morning, she lay in bed staring at the ceiling for a long time, replaying the previous night in her head. They had kissed, and it had been incredible, but when he'd pulled away she'd been able to tell he regretted it. Now she had to go to the academy and face him, having no clue how to act. Like nothing had happened? Confront it head on? It was going to be a long day.

Mick kept a very professional decorum throughout class, but she could feel the atmosphere tense up when he was near her. She was packing up after class, when he called to her,

"Katlyn, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure," she said crossing the range to him.

"About last night, what I did was out of line. You are my student, a friend, we can't be anything more than that. My kissing you was a mistake."

A mistake, great, she'd been expecting this, but it still stung, she didn't want to be a mistake. She wanted to be with him.

"It's cool, we were caught up, it happens, but I didn't read anything more into it than that." she said coolly.

"Good, because I do consider you a friend, and I wouldn't want to make things between us awkward."

"No awkwardness, I promise." she said with a smile.

When she got to her car she couldn't help banging her palms against the steering wheel. _No awkwardness at all, why would things be awkward? _she thought grimly, _It's not like when you kissed me I thought it meant something. _

As she drove home she tapped her fingers along with the music on the radio, trying to calm down.

_I don't care what they're saying as long as I'm your girl_

It was the first lyric in the song she'd paid attention to, as she listened to the rest of the song she was strongly reminded of Mick. She didn't care about the teacher/student thing, she just wanted to be with him.

"_And that was Michelle Branch with "You Get Me,"_ the radio announcer said.

Just then her phone rang, she reached over and flipped the radio off and adjusted the Bluetooth piece in her ear.

"Hey mom,"

"Hey sweetie, how are things at the academy?"

Katlyn almost laughed, they'd had the same conversation once a month since she was in high school and her mom had started leaving her alone when she went out of town. She would call, ask how she'd been, tell her any important news in her life, and they wouldn't talk again for a month.

"Good, hard work, but it'll be worth it. I had to pick a mentor, I chose our shooting instructor, Agent Rawson."

"That's nice, so your sister called."

"Really, there's a first, what did she have to say?"

She had no idea what was going on in her sister's life, they hadn't spoken since she was sixteen.

"She joined the FBI, the Behavioral Analysis Unit,"

"Wow, that's huge. Tell her congratulations."

"I'm sure she'll call you, and you can do it yourself."

Katlyn was sure she wouldn't. She talked to her mom awhile longer before changing to go for a run. The BAU was one of the most prestigious departments in the FBI. She had considered it but knew her chances of getting that department were slim and had decided on Missing and Exploited Children.

Even as she ran her mind was going a thousand miles a minute. She knew anything with Mick would never have turned into something serious, and she didn't care. He was as attracted to her as she was to him, she'd seen it in his eyes, last night hadn't been a mistake, even if he never would admit it.

The next day, Saturday, she had another practice session with Mick. Qualifications were coming up and he'd moved their session to twice a week, wanting to make sure she was ready. Katlyn kept herself completely focused on her shooting, refusing to let herself get distracted by him.

**Qualifications- Five Months Later**

Katlyn's hands were shaking with nervousness. This was it, the day that would determine if she made sniper or not. Mick came up behind her and rubbed her shoulders.

"You okay?"

"I'm good, just nervous."

"You're going to do wonderful," he said coming around in front of her, "You've got this," he said reassuringly.

She nodded, smiling, and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek, "Thank you for everything."

"Don't mention it,"

"Katlyn Prentiss," the examiner called.

Mick gave her shoulders a sharp squeeze and she took a deep breath as she went in. She got through it easier than she'd expected. When she came out the first thing she saw was Mick pacing off to the side. She couldn't help noticing he seemed more anxious then he had with her classmates.

"Mick!" she called, a wide smile spread across her face.

He watched her closely as she crossed the room.

"Well?" he asked as soon as she'd reached him.

She held out the papers and he quickly scanned them,

"I made it!" she exclaimed before he could finish.

"I knew it. Katlyn I am so proud of you." he said, lifting her off the ground and spinning her around.

_"__All you gotta do is smile that smile, and there go all my defenses. Just leave it up to you, and in a little while you're messin' up my mind and fillin' up my senses" Taylor Swift_

* * *

That night Mick took her and her classmates to the nightclub to celebrate their qualifying. It didn't take long for the guys to end up on the dance floor with a couple girls, leaving Katlyn alone at the table with Mick. She couldn't believe it was over, next year she would be in the FBI.

"So how does it feel to be done?" Mick asked.

"Good, I'm excited to get into things." she said, hoping her voice didn't sound as distant as her mind was.

She was thrilled to be done with the academy, but not so thrilled to be done seeing Mick.

"Something's on your mind." he said, studying her closely.

"It's nothing really," she said, trying to brush it off."

"Katlyn…"

She laughed, that was his favorite thing to do when she was being evasive. She could tell him, she'd never see him again probably, so if it got awkward she wouldn't have to worry about it being weird every day.

"Mick," she and Mick both looked up to see a brunette coming toward them, smiling.

_It's a new girl every time, _Katlyn thought sourly.

"Michelle, I thought you moved out to California." he said, eyes betraying a hint of something Katlyn thought looked like annoyance.

"I did, briefly, but California life wasn't getting it for me. Why don't you buy me a drink and I'll tell you about it."

"I'm here with my students tonight Michelle, maybe another time?"

"Absolutely." she smiled and sauntered off.

_What's with these girls, they don't walk they saunter, all of them._

"I'm sorry about that, it seems like every time we're hear I'm getting…approached."

"You're in popular demand, it seems," Katlyn laughed.

"They sure know how to time it," he mumbled.

During his conversation with Michelle, she'd decided on not telling Mick about her feelings, if she'd questioned it before, she didn't now, he was definitely a ladies man.


	4. Chapter 4 The BAU

****Sorry it took so long to update, but a friend of mine is in from out of town and I haven't had time to update.**

**Chapter 4. The BAU**

"_Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be" George Sheehan_

Katlyn's phone woke her up at eight, she'd been out of the FBI Academy for two years and was an agent in the FBI's Missing Persons department.

"Hello," she said picking up the phone.

"Is this Katlyn Prentiss?" a severe sounding woman asked.

"Yes it is,"

"Ms. Prentiss, this is Erin Strauss with the FBI…"

Katlyn still couldn't believe she'd been transferred to the BAU, it was made up of the most elite agents the FBI had, and she hadn't dreamed in a million years she'd ever make the team. Here she was though, sitting across from Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner, and Agent David Rossi, who had been one of the first ever profilers and would be her mentor.

"Let's introduce you to the rest of the team," he said leading her out of the office.

She was followed closely by Agent Rossi.

"Conference room everyone," Hotch called.

Rossi stood with her at the head of the room as everyone sat down. Her eyes locked with the brunette woman sitting next to a tall, gangly guy with shoulder length brown hair, the woman, Emily Prentiss, was her sister and she didn't look happy to see her.

"Everyone," Rossi said, clasping a hand on Katlyn's shoulder, "This is Katlyn Prentiss, your new teammate, she is twenty-four and will be the team's sniper."

Everyone was incredibly welcoming, making their way over to introduce themselves immediately. All except Emily who'd been approached by Agent Hotchner. She did find out that the one with brown hair who'd been sitting next to Emily, was twenty-seven year old Dr. Spencer Reid, the next youngest member of the team.

Finally, she managed to make her way over to Emily,

"Surprise!" she said with a smile, hugging her sister. She'd been thrilled to be working with Emily, hoping it would give them the opportunity to mend their relationship.

"Surprise is right, what are you doing here?"

"It's good to see you too Em," Katlyn said sarcastically, "I'm great, and you? Oh, and to answer your question, Chief Strauss called to offer me a position."

"I bet, so what did mom have to do to set that up?"

"Really Emily, tell me you're not still on that whole _Katlyn always gets what she wants_ bit. Mom had nothing to do with this, she doesn't even know yet."

"Of course she doesn't," Emily replied shortly, just as Agent Hotchner came over.

"Katlyn you met agents Reid and Morgan right?" he asked.

"Yes sir,"

"Good, they're going to help you get a desk set up."

They led her to a storage closet and hauled a desk out into the bullpen. Once they had it sat down, Morgan disappeared with something about helping their tech analyst, Garcia.

"So Spencer, how long have you been with the BAU?"

"Six years," he said glancing over from his desk beside hers.

"That would have made you twenty-one, how did you get through college and the academy that early?"

"I graduated high school at twelve, I already had three PhDs when I joined."

"Twelve, seriously?"

"Yeah, my IQ is 187."

"I87, wow, so you're like a genius," she said incredulous, just as he shot into some speech about genius not being able to be accurately quantified.

As he was talking she couldn't help noticing a picture on his desk, it was of the team and four other people crowded in what looked like a warehouse, what surprised her is one of those people was Mick Rawson.

"Spencer, where was this taken?" she asked

He glanced over, "San Francisco, those four," he quickly pointed them out, "are the BAU members out there, why?"

"I know him," she said pointing to Mick

"_So many questions still need an answer, two years later you're still on my mind," Mandy Moore_

Katlyn couldn't believe she'd already been a member of the BAU for two weeks. Her relationship with Emily hadn't gotten any better, but as she walked the parking lot, she realized she'd stopped caring what her sister thought. She was feeling a little antsy about the day, Hotch wanted to take her to the shooting range to see if she was as good as everyone said she was. She was one of the few female snipers in FBI history. Even though she was antsy, she wasn't really worried, she'd had one of the best teachers ever.

She was crossing through the BAU's reception area when a voice called from behind her.

"Excuse me, miss,"

She turned and a wide smile spread across her face when she saw who it was. He looked as surprised to see her as she was to see him.

"Looks like it's my lucky day," he said with a smile.

She felt herself blush, his accent still drove her crazy, and her pulse had started racing as soon as she'd seen him.

"I thought you were in California," she said, walking toward him.

"I was, I am, we need some help with a case, so they sent me to talk to Agent Hotchner, we worked a case with his team a few months ago."

"Well," she said smiling again, "make it quick, he's testing out the BAU's newest sniper's skills this morning," she flashed her badge.

He closed the distance between them and lifted her off the ground in a tight embrace,

spinning her around.

"Mick?" Emily's face was unreadable as she came toward them.

He glanced at Katlyn with a playful grin, "You girls just can't get over me."

She gave him a light shove, "It's impossible, we'd have to move to another planet, just to get away from your ego."

"What are you doing here?" Emily asked, finally reaching them.

"We need your help with a case," he said, waving the folder he had in his hand.

"I'll go ahead and tell you, this is killing him Emily, he hates asking for help, even if it is for his team" Katlyn said with a laugh.

"You two know each other?" Emily asked

Mick put his hands on Katlyn's shoulders, "I taught her everything she knows about firing a gun, she's forever indebted to me,"

Katlyn scoffed, "In your dreams, pretty boy,"

"She's so mean to me," he joked.

Katlyn settled at her desk while Mick went to talk to Hotch and JJ about the case. Emily came and sat on the corner of her desk.

"So do you intend to insinuate yourself into every corner of my life?" she asked.

"Excuse me?"

"First my team, now Mick, you amaze me,"

"Here we go again," Katlyn sighed, "What are you and Mick together or something?"

"No, we met working a case three months ago, but we're not _together," _she said shaking her head.

"Look, Mick was my teacher three years ago, before you even knew him,"

"That embrace seemed like more than something a teacher would give a student," she said, storming off.


	5. Chapter 5 Complicated

****For the most part this chapter is extracted directly from Dare You To Move, but I've added a few minor things :) Enjoy!**

**Chapter 2. Complicated**

"_You're so complicated, and I can't figure you out" Daniel Bedingfield_

Ok, so obviously Emily had a thing for Mick, and a major one at that judging from her reaction to their relationship. _Great, _Katlyn thought, _like my sister needed another reason to hate me._

"Conference room," Hotch called from the top of the stairs, "Katlyn looks like we'll have to test your skills another time."

JJ started as soon as they were seated, "You all remember Mick Rawson from the San Francisco team. Mick, this is Katlyn Prentiss, the newest member to the team."

"We know each other," he said with one of his trademark cocky grins.

Katlyn couldn't help but let out a small giggle.

"Well, since we're all acquainted," JJ said looking between Katlyn and Mick briefly, with a confused look, "In the past three weeks, five high powered San Francisco residents have been murdered, all apparent suicides." she hit a button on the remote in her hand and five pictures filled the projection screen.

"If they're suicides why do you need our help," Rossi asked looking to Mick

"Apparent suicides, the angle of entry for Alisha Summers says the wound was not self-inflicted."

"Not to mention, the likelihood of five suicides in the same area and by members of the same social class, even in an area as large as San Francisco, are slim," Spencer said.

"What exactly do you mean when you say high powered?" Emily asked

"Alisha Summers was a leading prosecutor, both Cory Hayes and Michael Thompson were private attorneys, William Carter was a CEO of a major corporation and Helen Johnson a cardiologist."

"Do they have anything in common besides obvious wealth and power?" Katlyn asked curiously.

JJ looked to Mick.

"Not that we've found," he answered.

"Wheels up in twenty," Hotch said after they'd finished the briefing.

Katlyn checked her go bag and put her IPOD in her pocket.

"Nervous?" Spencer asked, gathering up his own stuff.

"Is it that obvious," she laughed, glancing up from her bag.

"No, not at all, I just remember my first case, I was a wreck, don't worry though, you'll be fine."

They grabbed their bags and headed out to the jet, after putting their bags overhead, Katlyn sat back against her seat and slid her earbuds in, music had always helped her relax.

"Mind if I sit?" Mick asked pointing to the seat beside her.

"Of course not," she said pulling the earbuds back out.

"I didn't put it together until JJ introduced you in the conference room, but are you and Emily related?"

"Sisters, not that she likes to admit it" Katlyn said, hoping her tone sounded light on the last part.

"She seems a little hostile where you're concerned. What's that about?" he asked

She'd forgotten how observant Mick was.

"It's complicated," she replied quietly.

He laughed, "You still do that, say something's complicated when you don't want to talk about it?" he asked, with a playful smile.

"It's nothing really, Emily and I have just never been that close, at least not in a very long time."

"Last time your team was in San Francisco, Emily and I were working very closely together. Her and I are a lot alike, strong willed and not afraid to go after what we want. You and her are also a lot alike, neither of you trust easily, and there's a lot you don't talk about."

Katlyn was all to aware that Emily, who was playing cards with JJ and Spencer a few seats away, was listening far more closely than necessary to their conversation.

"There's a lot of it that's not really my place to talk about, but I'll tell you what I can, later though," she said, eyes flicking to Emily.

There was no keeping secrets from Mick, they'd been too close at the academy, and he knew her too well. Sometimes it had drove her crazy how well he could read her.

The San Francisco BAU was way different, comprised of only four members, it was run out of an old warehouse. They'd barely gotten there before they were fielding out to check out crime scenes and such. Katlyn stayed behind with a girl named Gina from the other team to go through files. They hadn't been working long when a new file came through, this time on a psychologist. She was reading over Gina's shoulder when she found a connection between this victim and two of the others, and grabbed her phone.


	6. Chapter 6 My Side Of The Story

**Chapter 6. My Side of the Story**

"_Only my side of the story, my side of the story, only my burden to bear" Hodges_

"Your girl here figured out the missing link," Gina told the team when they got back.

"Really," Hotch said, sounding surprised, new agents rarely found the connections, especially with as little experience as Katlyn had. "What have you got?"

"The victims were all resuscitated at some point in their lives, I'm pretty sure the unsub is an angel of death.""How did we miss that?" Derek asked, brow furrowed.

"It was only in two of the files, plus the new one, when I realized that I had Garcia run a check,"

"So we have an angel of death who only targets a specific group of people, those being ones financially well off." Spencer said.

"I think we should split up, talk to the families, see what the original sets of circumstances were that led to resuscitation. Reid, I want you on a geographical profile, JJ get ready for a press conference."

Katlyn was hyperaware of Mick standing right behind her as she pulled the addresses of the victims' families off the computer. She had a sense of de-ja-vu, remembering the first time she'd been this aware of him. It had been about a month after he'd become her mentor, he'd been helping her adjust her grip on her gun in order to perfect her aim, at that moment she'd wanted nothing more than him to turn her to him and kiss her, and she was having that same feeling now.

"So where are we heading?" his voice yanked her back to earth.

"Modesto and L.A.," she said, quickly refocusing herself.

"We're going to be on the road all day," he sighed, "I guess it's a good thing you're not the worst company in the world Katlyn."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder with raised eyebrows.

"Of the highest order," he said with a cocky smile.

She laughed and grabbed the files they needed before heading out the door. They were barely out of the parking lot when he glanced over at her.

"So, we have plenty of time to finish that conversation we were having on the plane."

"You're not going to let it go are you?"

"Have I ever been the type to let things go?"

_No you haven't, _she thought, remembering another conversation she'd wished he hadn't pursued.

"I was seven when our dad left, Emily was thirteen, he told us he couldn't live a life of politics anymore, that he'd come see us all the time. We never saw him again and Emily never stopped blaming our mother for that. She hates the fact that I never did. I think she wanted to things as hard for our mom as she could, especially with her in the public eye, so she rebelled, did everything a politicians daughter shouldn't." she paused not knowing if she could continue, "You have to understand that Emily and I are two very different people, she was the type of person who would do anything to be popular. I fit in even without trying and even though I didn't care about it. It didn't matter that she was out of high school by the time I was a freshman, she still hated me for it. She was convinced I was trying to outdo her. Now, it's the same thing with my joining the BAU, she had to fight for it, and I didn't, and that drives her crazy."

"Wow," Mick said softly, "So you two are basically like strangers."

"Before I joined the BAU, we hadn't talked since I was sixteen." Katlyn answered earnestly.

"Why did you never mention her when we were at the academy? Did you not know she was in the FBI?"

"I knew, mom told me, I just didn't think it was important. I mean why bring her up when she treats me like I don't exist? It would have caused a lot of unnecessary questions."

"I can understand that, I was just wondering if there was a bigger reason."

"There's not," she said earnestly.

When they'd been at the academy three years ago, their relationship had gone within a week from student/teacher to good friends. Being one of only three snipers in the academy that year they'd had a lot of one on one time and had gotten to know each other.

He'd been one of the first people she'd felt comfortable opening up to and to this day she wondered if letting herself get that close to him had been her mistake. Within a month her feelings for him had escalated beyond friendship and she'd known it would never work.

The night after they'd qualified Mick had taken her and the two guys out to celebrate, they'd almost immediately taken to the dance floor with some girls, leaving her alone at the table with Mick. She could've told him right there, he wasn't her teacher anymore, but he was seven years older than her, and she was pretty sure she was nothing more than a student and a friend to him.

Katlyn and Mick headed down the steps of the first family's home in Modesto, they now had an almost five hour drive ahead of them to L.A. It was just before eleven, so they would be there somewhere around four, depending on traffic. She pulled out her cell and called Spencer to give him the information they'd gathered.

"Alisha Summers was resuscitated after a car crash that punctured one of her lungs. She was seventeen at the time and her boyfriend was killed in the crash," she told him.

"So when will you guys be back?"

"We're going to L.A. and won't be there until four or five, it'll probably be close to midnight before we get back there." she answered before hanging up, and pulling out the other file.

"So, William Carter has no family in the area, so we're talking to his business partner, right?"

"Yes, a Jonathan Webber, I spoke with him earlier, he's expecting us,"

Five hours later they were in front of a large brick, two story house. They hadn't even reached the door when it was opened by a man in his late fifties. He may have been expecting them, but Katlyn certainly hadn't been expecting him.

"You must be Agent Rawson," the man said reaching them and shaking Mick's hand.

"Yes sir, I appreciate you taking the time to meet with us, this is Agent Katlyn Prentiss,"

The man looked slightly surprised, but gave Katlyn a small nod before inviting them in.

She couldn't believe she hadn't made the connection at first, but realized they'd kept their mother's maiden name because of her political involvement. Therefore the name Jonathan Webber, on first glance, had meant nothing to her.

They ran through the facts of his friend's death, Katlyn studying him the entire time, in complete disbelief the man had not once acknowledged his daughter sat across from him.

"Jonathan, we're home!" a female voice called from the entryway before a woman about his age and a girl who looked just slightly younger than Katlyn came in.

"Amber, Brittany, these are agents Rawson and Prentiss with the FBI. Agents, my wife Amber and my daughter Brittany."

Katlyn studied the girl carefully, she was less than seven years younger than her, which meant if it was his biological daughter, she'd been conceived while her parents had still been together.

"Well," Mick said rising to his feet, "We won't take up anymore of your time," he said making his way toward the door.

"I'll walk you out," Jonathan said, rising to his feet as well.

"Once they were outside on the porch, Katlyn turned to Mick, who was already heading down the walk, "I'll be right there," she said, before turning back to her father.

"Is Brittany your biological daughter?" she asked bluntly.

"Yes, she is, she and Amber have no clue about you, your mother or Emily, Katlyn. I know you've already put it together that she was conceived while your mother and I were still married, but please don't make this harder than it has to be."

She laughed, "So what, you just chose the family you liked best and prayed the other never found out, pretended they didn't exist?"

"Katlyn," he started.

"Don't Katlyn me, dad, I don't want to hear it. You made your decision, and if you can look at yourself in the mirror every day knowing you have two daughters out there that you just wrote off, good for you, but I can do the same thing, write you off completely too." she yelled, storming down the stairs toward the SUV.

Once she got to the car, she practically collapsed against the passenger seat, shaking uncontrollably. Mick was silent for several minutes as he backed out of the driveway.

Once he had the car on the road, he reached over and put his hand on top of hers, squeezing it slightly.

"What was that, what did he say to get you so upset?" he asked.

"It's nothing important," she said, trying to steady her voice.

"You'll understand if I'm a little disbelieving of that. Katlyn, it takes a lot to get you angry, especially this angry, I know you well enough to know that."

"I really shouldn't have been so open with you," she laughed, flipping her hand over underneath his and lacing their fingers together. "Jonathan Webber is my father," she said resolutely, "I didn't realize it when I saw his name on the file, but I recognized him as soon as he came out the door."

"He didn't even act like he knew you,"

"That's what I confronted him about, when I told you I'd catch up, that and the fact Brittany would have had to have been born while my parents were still together. They don't even know he has other children, he just wrote us off."

"He told you that?" Mick asked, voice incredulous.

"Yes, he told me not to make things harder than they had to be," she said, voice rising in frustration.

Mick lifted his hand, with hers still intertwined, from where it rested on the seat between them, and ran the back of his along her cheekbone.

"I'm really sorry you had to find that out," he said glancing over at her.

Her breath had practically caught in her chest at his touch.

"I have to tell Emily don't I," she said quietly, glancing over at him.

"Not necessarily, it's been seventeen years I think she knows he's through, but at the same time maybe she'd stop blaming your mother if she knew the truth."

**Emily**

Emily may not have talked much to her sister in the last eight years, or even know her that well as a person, but as she came through the door with Mick, Emily knew something was wrong.

"What happened?" she asked, cutting across the room toward them.

Mick glanced at Katlyn before answering, "She ran into someone she knew, it got a little hostile, she's just shook up. I should probably let you two talk," he said, making his way to his desk.

"Who did you run in to?" she asked.

They may not be close, but she was still worried.

"Can we go outside for a minute," she asked turning back to the door.

Emily followed confused, "What's going on, Katlyn?"

"The guy we just talked to was Jonathan Webber, it's been so long I didn't even put it together when I saw the name."

Emily stared at her, not putting it together either at first, then the name registered, "Dad!" she cried, trying to control the hurt that followed. "What did he say?"

"Nothing, Emily, he pretended not to know me, and I saw his face when Mick introduced me, it registered. Before we left, I confronted him about it, his new family doesn't even know we exist, no one does from the sounds of it.""He remarried then?"

"Yes, Emily, he has another daughter, she can't be more than three or four years younger than me.""She's probably a step," Emily said in disbelief.

"I asked him about that, I thought the same thing. She is biologically his,"Emily leaned back against the building, "I always thought mom kept him from visiting," she said shaking her head, "When in reality, he just moved from one family to another, forgetting all about the first. Though I can't really blame him for the affair part."

"Not that you can blame him? Katlyn asked incredulous.

"Even you have to admit mother was impossible to live with,"

"That doesn't justify what he did,"

"Katlyn, easy, I'm not saying it does, not the cutting us out of his life part," she said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "This is just a lot to take in,"

"Tell me about it," Katlyn said, leaning back against the stair railing.

_"I'm not running from. No, I think you got me all wrong. I don't regret this life I chose for me." Daughtry_


	7. Chapter 7 Broken

**Chapter 7. Broken**

"_In the pain there is healing. In your name I find meaning. So I'm holding on, I'm barely holding on to you." Lifehouse_

Katlyn pulled her hair back in a ponytail, and put on the headset and goggles, she had her IPOD's earbuds on underneath the headset. She needed to clear her head and coming to the shooting range had seemed like the best way to do it.

Going back to the hotel would give her too much time to think, something she didn't want to do. She didn't want to wonder why her father had abandoned them, if she was finally mending her relationship with her sister, or especially, if what had happened with Mick in the car had meant anything. She raised her gun and aimed at the target, taking out her frustrations with each bullet.

She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned quickly, gun still raised. It was well after midnight, and she'd been completely alone in the shooting range for the last hour.

Mick stepped back, both hands in front of him. She pulled of the headset and earbuds, and lay the gun down.

"I called your name twice," he said relaxing.

"I had my IPOD on, I was alone when I got here. By the way, next time you might want to wait until I take the headset off, sneaking up on me like that, not the brightest thing you've ever done." she said pulling off the goggles.

"Probably not," he laughed, "I tried your cell and went by the hotel, JJ said you hadn't come in yet, so I figured you'd probably come here. I wanted to make sure you were okay,"

Katlyn couldn't help smiling at his concern, "I'll be fine, it's just a lot to process. It would be nice if something in my life could be simple."

"You wouldn't know what to do with simple," he joked.

"True," she laughed.

"All kidding aside," he said, stepping forward and putting his hands on either side of her face, "I'm here if you need me,"

She couldn't even think clearly, he was too close, and she was completely overwhelmed. What part of her took over at that moment, she didn't know, but she brought her lips to his without stopping to think. He hesitated only briefly before she felt his lips respond.

It was like someone had set her skin on fire. At some point one of his hands left her face and found her hair, pulling it loose of the elastic band and wrapping his fingers through it, securing her face to his. She wrapped her arms around his neck pulling herself as close to him as possible. She had no idea how long they stayed there that way, before reluctantly breaking apart, breathless, his hand still gently playing in her hair.

"Nobody can know about this," he said, "Especially not while we're working this case."

"I know," she said, bringing her lips back to his.

Day three on the case, they sat around the warehouse trying to find a first responder, doctor, or somebody the victims had in common. JJ and Gina sat at Cooper's desk, along with Hotch going over points for a press conference, while the rest of the team was spread out all over the place Katlyn poured over the geographical profile with Spencer, lost in her own world. She glanced over at Emily who was pouring over files seeming distracted.

"I found it, the one person they all had in common, it's an ER nurse, Shannon Matthews," Derek said.

Emily grabbed the phone.

"Garcia, get me everything you have on an ER nurse named Shannon Matthews."

Five minutes later they had the full report in their hands.

"Shannon Matthews is thirty-one, she has a registered gun matching the type used in the murders. Six months ago, her sister was brought into the ER while Shannon was on duty, she flat lined, they couldn't resuscitate." Derek read.

"So she's blaming everyone that they could." Rossi finished matter of factly.

"We've got her," Cooper said, throwing down his folder.

"Katlyn, take the rear exit, Mick the front, in case she tries to run," Hotch told them as they reached the apartment complex.

"Got it," she said, getting out of the SUV and heading around back.

She positioned herself out of sight, and waited. About ten minutes later, Hotch's all clear came over the radio. She wasn't there. Katlyn was about to move from her spot when the rear door opened. Katlyn drew her gun and stepped out.

"Shannon Matthews, FBI, we need to ask you some questions," she yelled.

The woman bolted. _Of course she's gonna run, _Katlyn thought. She hit the radio to tell the team she was in pursuit and took off, following the woman into an abandoned building next door.

Gun in front of her, she pushed open the door, there was no one in sight.

"Shannon, it's over, come on out," she called.

She took a few steps to her left and turned to look again, when she was hit from behind, sending them through a large, glass window. They hit the ground hard, just as Derek and Mick came around the corner, followed closely by Spencer. Katlyn's head was splitting, from where she'd hit it on the ground. Derek grabbed Shannon and pinned her to the ground as Spencer pulled the cuffs. Katlyn sat up slowly, stinging sensations covering her right arm.

"Mick knelt down beside her, "There's this little thing called backup, it was invented for a reason."

"I'm fine, thanks," she said, trying to get to her feet.

He reached out and took her mostly uninjured left arm and helped her to her feet. She could feel the warm, wet trickle of blood on her arm and head. Everything sounded far away and looked dim, she swayed unsteadily on her feet.

"She's going to need a medic," he said turning to Spencer, "There's glass all in her arm and she's bleeding a lot."

By that point the rest of the team had reached them and was sorting things out.

"I need to sit down," she said, trying to pull from Mick's grasp.

"I've got you," he said helping her to one of the SUVs.

He got the passenger door opened and helped her sit back against the seat. The ambulance got there in less than ten minutes and the EMT began looking her over.

"We're going to take you in, do some x-rays," he said, "First, I'm going to get the glass out, though."

"Going to the hospital is completely unnecessary," she said, wincing as the glass came free of her arm.

"Humor me," Mick said taking her hand, "You could have a concussion." he turned to the EMT, "Can I ride along?"

"Of course," he said.

"You don't…" he put his finger to her lips.

"Shh. I'm going to tell everyone I'm going with you."

Forty-five minutes later she lay on the gurney in a trauma room, waiting on the x-ray results. Mick sat in the chair next to her bed.

"Feeling any better?"

"My head doesn't hurt too bad, my arm still stings though." she said, "Thank you for coming with me."

"Of course," he said leaning over and taking her hand in his.

She laced her fingers through his, not worried that whatever was going on between them, was probably a bad idea.


	8. Chapter 8 Dare You To Move

"_I dare you to move like today never happened before." Switchfoot_

Mick brought the wheelchair to a stop just beside the SUV, and opened the door. Katlyn was still annoyed by the wheelchair bit, hospital protocol or not, she hated being fussed over. Mick helped her into the car and passed the wheelchair to an overly helpful and overly flirty nurse who'd followed them out.

Katlyn stared out the window, she'd been quiet for most of the ride, lost in thought. She wondered what was going to happen, now that the case was over and she was going back to Virginia. She wasn't ready to lose whatever it was her and Mick had started.

"You're awful quiet," he said after awhile.

"I just have a lot on my mind," she said, turning to face him.

"If this is about the case, about going after that woman, you did great, anyone else would have gone after her too, backup or no."

"It's not even that, it's just," she paused, trying to find her words, "What are we doing here Mick? What am I to you?"

He pulled the car into a parking lot, she was pretty sure it was a school, but it was late and the place was deserted. Suddenly, he leaned across the seat and kissed her deeply. When he pulled away his face was still only inches from hers as he spoke.

"You're the girl who's going to get really sick of me, because I'll be calling every day and racking up more frequent flyer miles than I know what to do with coming to see you. We're just going to have to be careful, because we're breaking all the rules now."

"I can do careful," she said smiling before he brought his lips back to hers.

**Emily**

"_Everybody's watching you now. Everybody waits for you now." Switchfoot_

JJ came over and sat down next to Emily, who was filling out papers.

"So case is over, you gonna make a move on the hot British dude?" she asked playfully.

Emily laughed, "I actually thought about it, but I don't think it would work, I mean there's just too much working against us."

"Chicken," JJ said giving her a small shove.

"It's not that I'm just…later," she said abruptly as Katlyn and Mick came in.

She made her way over to them, "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"A little stiff, but otherwise I'm fine,"

Emily couldn't help noticing her sister seemed happier than she had in a long time, and wondered if it had anything to do with Mick, the two seemed incredibly close.

"Up to going out tomorrow night?" Derek asked coming over. "Everybody wants to stay a couple nights, just chill, hit a club tomorrow, go home the next day."

"I think I can handle that," she said with a smile.

Emily wasn't oblivious to her sister's gaze flicking to Mick with a small smile.

"We'll have to go shopping tomorrow for something to wear," JJ said coming up.

"We can definitely manage that," Emily said.

Finding the mall the next day wasn't too hard,

"Thank god for GPS," Emily said as they got out of the car.

**Katlyn**

"So now that it's just us girls," JJ said as they browsed dresses, "Why aren't you making a move on Mick?"

Katlyn tried to maintain minimal interest in the conversation, at least visibly. So she'd been right, Emily did like him.

"I just don't think he's interested," she said evasively.

"Not interested," JJ scoffed, "Please. You two might as well have carried around banners that said unresolved sexual tension last time we were here,"

"Funny JJ, really hilarious," Emily said shaking her head, "Just announce it to the world why don't you."

JJ rolled her eyes and turned to Katlyn, "You and Mick are friends, has he mentioned another girl to you?"

"Umm, no, he hasn't mentioned another girl," she said, choosing her words carefully.

It wasn't a lie, there wasn't _another_ girl, there was her, and she hadn't known her new teammates long enough to trust them with that.

Katlyn was surprised when later that afternoon there was a rapping at her hotel room door, she was even more surprised to find Emily on the other side. They'd been practically estranged for eight years.

"Come on in," she said stepping aside.

They sat down across from each other at a small table cramped into one corner of the room.

Katlyn shifted nervously, before speaking, "Thank you, for not telling JJ I was the girl Mick's interested in."

"No problem, JJ wouldn't have said anything though,"

"I'm sure she wouldn't have, I just don't really know her that well."

"I know, I remember being the new girl," Emily said, "And I want to apologize for making this so hard on you."

Katlyn looked shocked, like she'd suddenly entered an alternate universe.

"Am I really that bad?" Emily asked with a laugh.

"No offense, but when it comes to me, yeah you are. I accept your apology though,"

She was confused, that was the best word for it. Emily and her had been getting along better, but at no point had she actually expected an apology. She'd accepted the fact she and her sister would never have, well, a sisterly relationship.

"So," Emily said, readjusting her position, "How are you and Spencer getting along?"

Katlyn laughed, "Spencer is a really nice guy, I like working with him, the genius babble however, can be a little nerve grating."

"Yes it can," Emily said with a laugh, "He'll ease up on it once he knows you better, it's just a nervous habit thing with him, unless it's relevant to a case."

"Good to know." Katlyn said with a smile.

"So, I'm going to pry," Emily said, "I want the full story on you and Mick."

Katlyn couldn't help laughing again, "You're just jumping right in to this whole sisterly bonding thing aren't you?"

"I'm trying, seriously from the beginning though."

"Okay," Katlyn said shaking her head, "You already know he was my mentor at the academy. There was only five of us training to be snipers and I was the only girl. I wanted to be the best I could, or at least hold my own with the boys, so I asked Mick if he could work with me after class. He did, and the more time we spent together, the more attracted to him I became. We kissed once but nothing more than that, I figured once I left the academy I'd never see him again anyway."

"But you did," Emily said.

"Yeah, and that old attraction came right back to the surface. I went to the shooting range that night after I saw dad and he showed up to make sure I was okay. I kissed him, and he didn't push me away."

"So what happens now that the case is over?" Emily asked.

"He says he's going to call, visit as much as he can," she said, settling back in the chair.

"You sound skeptical," Emily pressed.

"It's a long way to travel, Em, I'm not stupid, I know it won't last long, beside Mick has always been very popular with the opposite sex."

"Guys are normally the last one to offer to log the miles, if he is offering, that means you're important to him and he wants to make it work. I've seen the way he looks at you Katlyn, he's crazy about you. Mick's very headstrong if his mind is made up about this you won't change it."

"_When the night says hello, yeah get ready to go, turn it up, turn it loose, yeah you've got no excuse. Just take a chance, get out on the floor and dance" Miley Cyrus_

The red dress she wore was almost backless and Katlyn almost jumped out of her skin when she felt his fingers trailing along her spine.

"You look incredible," Mick's voice came from just behind her.

She turned slightly in her seat to find him very close behind her. She playfully fingered his leather jacket

"You don't look so bad yourself," she said as he took the chair beside her.

"What does everybody want?" Copper asked.

"Emily and Spencer are already taking care of ours," Hotch replied.

"I'll have whatever's on tap," Mick said.

Cooper got Gina and Jonathan's orders and disappeared into the crowd.

"So, do you want to dance?" Mick asked, extending a hand toward Katlyn.

"Absolutely," she said taking it and following him onto the floor.

He rested his hands on her waist and their bodies fell into an easy rhythm together. She turned so that her back was to him, and he brought his hands around to rest on her stomach, she rested her hands on top of his thoroughly enjoying his closeness. She didn't know how long they'd been dancing when he turned her to him and kissed her fiercely, his fingers tracing up and down her spine again. Her tongue slid in his mouth, tracing his, as his hand wound through her hair securing her face to his. They were too caught up in each other to realize that their plans to keep their relationship a secret had just gone out the window.

When Katlyn broke away from Mick she was breathless, her heart and pulse racing. She caught sight of her teammates, a mixture of shock and amusement on their faces.

"So much for keeping it a secret," she said meeting Mick's gaze.

"What, scared we're in trouble?" he teased.

"You were the one worried about keeping it secret," she replied with a coy smile.

"Well, let's just say I'm not really worried about anything right now." he said kissing her deeply again.

She folded herself into his embrace, not caring at all who was watching.

_Let them watch, _was all she could think as his hands ran across her back.

Katlyn was only faintly aware of the music changing, the beat slowing as he pulled away. His arms didn't leave her waist though, just continued to hold her close as they began to move easily to the music.

_All we are, all we are, is everything that's right._

The lyrics described everything she was feeling at that moment, and she couldn't help but deem it their song, before laughing internally at herself, she'd never been an "our song" girly-girl type of person before. She'd also never dreaded anything more than she was leaving the next day.


	9. Chapter 9 Breakeven

***The last few chapters have been copied from the original fic Dare You To Move, the next one will be completely new material :)**

**Chapter 11. Because of You**

"_I will not make the same mistakes that you did, will not let myself cause my heart so much misery." Kelly Clarkson_

Emily walked up to Hotch about an hour before they were to depart San Francisco. There was something she and Katlyn needed to take care of before leaving.

"Would it be okay if Katlyn and I stayed behind an extra day?" she asked him.

"I don't see why not, we don't have another case right away. Is everything alright?"

"Everything is fine, we just need to deal with a family thing."

Hotch's forehead creased in confusion, of course he didn't know their father was in the area, they hadn't known until a couple days ago.

"If you need anything just call," he said

"Thanks Hotch," she said before heading up the stairs to Katlyn's room.

When Katlyn opened the door, Emily could see her suitcases already packed and on the bed.

"Morning Emily," Katlyn said standing aside to let her sister in.

"Morning," Emily replied, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "I already talked to Hotch and he's fine with it. I think we should stay behind an extra day."

"Why?" Katlyn asked, eyes narrowing.

Emily shot her a _like you don't know look, _"I think we need to talk to dad,"

"I was afraid you were going to say that," Katlyn replied with a sigh, she didn't see what good talking to him again was going to do, he'd made himself perfectly clear before.

The five hour trip to see her father wasn't one Katlyn had planned on, or was looking forward to making again, but she knew Emily needed closure too, she had never been as close to her father as Emily had, Emily had a lot more pain to deal with than she had.

Katlyn spun around in her father's office chair. She'd been surprised when the secretary had sent them in without question, only telling them he was in a meeting and they'd have to wait to see him. She was getting restless, they'd been waiting forty-five minutes already.

Finally, the door opened and their father walked in, absorbed in a file he was holding, not even seeing his guests.

"Hi daddy," Emily said, a sarcastic edge to her voice.

Katlyn had to stifle laughter, it reminded her too much of a scene from the tv show _True Blood._

He jumped, the file falling from his hands, eyes settling on Emily, then Katlyn.

"Girls," he said, shock evident in his voice, even though he was obviously trying to regain composure, "Why are you here?" he asked, once he'd steadied his voice.

"Seventeen years is an awful long time to go between visits, don't you think? We want answers, better than the sorry line of bullshit you gave Katlyn." Emily replied, glaring at her father.

Katlyn rose from her father's chair and moved to sit beside Emily. Her father sat in the abandoned chair and ran his hands over his face. She was reminded strongly of the night he'd told them he was leaving, when they'd still believed he cared.

"What do you want to know?" he asked finally.

"How long before the divorce did you meet Amber?" Katlyn asked, figuring it best to get the basics over with.

"Just over a year, but your mother and I hadn't been in love for a long time, we fell out of love, or at least I did, when she fell in love with politics."

"And she didn't know about us?"

"She didn't know I had a family at all, and I was afraid if I told her she'd walked away, I loved her and couldn't bear for that to happen."

"So what were we, extra baggage you didn't want to deal with?" Emily raved.

"Emily, I knew you girls would be fine with your mother, if there was one thing she loved more than politics, it was you girls."

Emily laughed, "Touching story, really, must have been nice to walk away and not wonder where we were everyday, if we were okay, like we did you."

"Emily…you don't know how many times I've hated myself for leaving you girls…"

"Not enough to track us down, make a phone call, send a letter."

"I know, I'm sorry, but it's too late to change things now, I can't risk losing another family," he said, anguish filling his voice.

"Of course not," Emily said, rising to her feet, "Have a nice life Mr. Webber," she said before storming out of the office, Katlyn close at her heels.

"_You never thought of anyone else you just saw your pain_, _and now I cry in the middle of the night for the same damn thing." Kelly Clarkson_

Emily dropped Katlyn off at the hotel, it was after nine at night, and they'd just gotten back from Modesto. She drove to the club they'd gone to the previous night and sat down at the bar.

"What can I get you?" the bartender asked.

"Gin and Tonic" she said.

The bartender brought her drink, and she sat stirring it aimlessly, not even sure why she was there. She didn't want to go back to the hotel, too much time to think, the noise of the club stripped that ability, it was too loud to even form a coherent thought, let alone dwell on them.

"Rough day?" a voice came from beside her.

Emily turned and found that Mick had taken the barstool beside hers.

"You could say that," she said, "Katlyn and I went and saw our dad earlier."

"I take it that didn't go over well," he said, eyes searching hers.

"No, it didn't, he's built a whole new life for himself and nobody in it even knows we exist, and I feel so stupid because I spent years thinking he'd show back up with some grand excuse for where he'd been,"

Mick reached over and squeezed her hand lightly, "I'm sorry things didn't work out with your dad, I really am."

She had never seen this side of Mick Rawson before, the side of him that was caring, the side of him that wasn't always cocky and egotistical. They fell into easy conversation as they sat and drank. By the time it was over they were both pretty wasted, and called a cab to come get them. She and Mick stepped out into the warm night air to wait on the cab, still talking and before she knew it talking had turned into kissing…

By the next morning Emily wouldn't remember inviting Mick up to her room, or how rapidly there clothes disappeared. His lips trailed down her body, finding every curve, gentle in some places, more demanding and passionate in others.

When Emily woke up the next morning her head was pounding, she sat up and saw that her clothes were scattered across the floor, her clothes and someone else's. She turned to find Mick in the bed beside her, and jumped from the bed grabbing her clothes and shutting herself in the bathroom.

_Oh hell, oh hell, oh hell, _she thought staring in the mirror, what had she done? _I slept with my sister's boyfriend, that's what. _At that moment she'd absolutely hated herself, and chastised herself for also hating that she remembered none of the previous night. She threw on her clothes and went back out into the bedroom to find Mick stirring, he opened his eyes and glanced to the side opposite Emily.

"Katlyn," he half called groggily.

_Great, he thinks he slept with my sister, well of course he does, that's who he's dating after all, _she thought angrily.

"Wrong," she said, causing his eyes to widen as he turned to face her.

"Emily," he practically choked on her name, a mixture of emotion flooding his face,

"What, what happened?"

"We got drunk and slept together apparently," she said bluntly.

"Oh god," Mick said, fumbling to get his clothes on, "When she finds out…"

Emily bit down on the inside of her lower lip, if Katlyn found out, she would hate her, she would hate both of them, and there would be no patching things up with her sister this time.

"What if she didn't find out," she hadn't realized she'd said it aloud until he turned to her.

"What," he asked exasperated.

"If she finds out, she's going to hate both of us, this whole thing only happened because we were drunk, why let it cost us our relationships with Katlyn?"

Mick sat down in one of the chairs and buried his face in his hands.

"Do you know she's the first girl I've ever considered being in a serious relationship with? And I had to go and do this!" he exclaimed angrily, Emily could tell it wasn't really directed at anyone.

Someone knocking on the room's door caused them both to jump.

**Katlyn**

Katlyn glanced at her watch, they were going to miss their flight if Emily didn't hurry. She knew her sister hadn't come in until late, but she'd already checked and there were no open flights anytime later that day, which meant her sister was going to have to get a move on. The door came open and Emily stepped out in the hall. Katlyn couldn't help thinking that was strange, normally Emily would have just invited her in.

"I know we're running late," she said, "I'll meet you in your room in say, ten minutes,"

"I already checked out of my room, can I just wait in yours?" she asked, typing away on her cell at the same time, she'd promised Mick she'd text or call him before leaving.

"Umm.." Emily stuttered and Katlyn looked up as she heard Mick's text tone go off from inside Emily's room.

Her eyes widened, and she pushed past her sister into the room, it was empty but the bathroom door was shut and she saw Mick's phone laying on the nightstand, his shirt draped over a chair. She couldn't believe this was happening, she'd just gotten things back on track with her sister and now this. She looked behind her to see Emily had followed her into the room, looking embarrassed.

"Mick," she said, her voice rising just above its normal tone, "You might as well come out of the bathroom. If you want to keep something like this a secret, I suggest silencing your cell phone next time."

He came out, looking defeated, "Katlyn, I can explain…"

"What's to explain?" she asked trying to keep her voice from breaking, herself from breaking, "You slept with Emily, that much is obvious."

"Katlyn, we were drunk…" Emily started.

"Oh and that makes it better!" she said turning on her sister, "Let me guess, you were drunk and upset and she just happened to be a shoulder to cry on, save it please, both of you," she said pushing past them and out the door.

"_Now I'm trying to make sense of what little remains, cause you left me with no love and no love to my name. I'm still alive but I'm barely breathing, just praying to a god that I don't believe in…cause when a heart breaks no it don't break even." The Script_

"Katlyn, at least let me explain," Emily pleaded.

They were back at the bureau, and Katlyn wondered how many more times she was going to have to tell Emily she didn't want to hear it. She turned to her sister, doing her best to keep her voice calm.

"Emily this is really not the time nor the place for this conversation, and frankly I don't care to partake in it period." she hissed

She quickly realized she wasn't doing a great job of keeping the conversation inconspicuous, JJ, Derek, Garcia and Spencer had become far more interested in them than the card game they'd been playing. Perfect, just what she needed, the whole team wondering what was going on.

It was everything she could do not to break down as she sat at her desk filing her report. She may have only been dating Mick for a few days, but she'd had feelings for him since she'd been in the academy and his betrayal was killing her. She turned in her report to Hotch, and headed home to change into running clothes, then went to the park and took to one of the longest jogging trails, she didn't want to think for awhile.

"Katlyn!" a voice called from behind her.

She turned to see Derek jogging toward her, and paused to give him a chance to catch up.

"Damn girl, you're fast," he gasped, trying to catch his breath.

"I wasn't aware anyone was trying to catch up with me,"

"Yeah, well, you seemed pretty upset at the office and I know you haven't had a chance to

really get to know any of us yet, but I wanted to make sure you were okay."

She smiled, "I appreciate that Derek, I really do, but how did you find me?"

He shifted slightly, "I had Garcia trace your cell phone. So, what's going on with you and Emily?"

Katlyn went over to a nearby bench and sat down, Derek following close behind.

"I really don't want to get into the whole story, but to make it short our dad wants nothing to do with Emily and I, and last night Mick and Emily got drunk and slept together."

She could see shock fill the dark agent's eyes, but before he could say anything her cell rang. She picked it up and looked at the ID, Mick's name flashed across it.

"Of course it's him," she sighed.

"Do you want me to take care of it?" Derek asked holding out his hand for the phone.

"I'm not going to ask you to get involved in this, Derek."

"You're not asking I'm offering," he said taking the phone from her.

**Mick**

"_They say bad things happen for a reason, but no wise words gonna stop the bleeding." The Script_

Mick listened as the phone rang for the third time.

"Katlyn's phone," a male voice answered.

"Who is this?" he asked.

"It's Derek," he said, agitation prominent in his voice.

_Of course, _Mick thought, _Derek Morgan had always been protective, to say the least, of his female teammates._

"Can you please give the phone to Katlyn?" he asked, aware of the disparity in his voice,

he hated himself.

"I could, but I won't, she doesn't want to talk to you right now and I'm not going to let you upset her anymore than she already is."

"Look Derek, all I want to do is tell her I'm sorry,"

"Oh, we all know you're sorry," Derek replied.

"You have every right to be angry at me, and I don't blame Katlyn for not wanting to talk to me, but please tell her I'm sorry, I made a mistake, one of the worst mistakes I've ever made, but I do care about her."

"Alright," Derek said, before hanging up the phone.

Mick slammed his phone down on the desk, how could he have let this happen? How could he fix it?

**Katlyn**

Derek handed the phone back to Katlyn.

"He said to tell you he's sorry, that he made a mistake, but he really does care about you."

"He'll understand if I have trouble believing that," she said a single tear slipping down her cheek.

"_Say you're sorry that face of an angel comes out just when you need it to, as I pace back and forth all this time cause I honestly believed in you." Taylor Swift_


	10. Chapter 10 Love The Way You Lie

"_Just gonna stand there and watch me burn, but that's alright because I like the way it hurts." Rihanna _

When Katlyn got home she was exhausted, both physically and mentally. She felt like an idiot, she'd actually let herself believe Mick wanted something real, worse then that was the fact that not only had he betrayed her, he'd done it with Emily.

She went into the bathroom and got in the shower, letting the hot water stream over her body, unknotting her muscles. She tried not to think about everything that happened in San Francisco, tried not to admit to herself that she'd been in love with Mick, that she'd let herself imagine him showing up in Virginia to see her, what it would be like to make love to him. Her body sank to the floor of the shower, the tears she'd been suppressing since that morning finally falling.

As she unpacked, her hands found the red dress she'd worn to the club, bringing back another tidal wave of memories. She'd always been a strong person, guys didn't usually get to her this way, she'd never let a guy make her weak.

When her phone rang, part of her didn't want to go to it, but she did and found Hotch's name flashing on the ID, and was actually glad when he said they had a case. She put her entire focus into the case, and was doing fine until Hotch sent her and Emily to a crime scene. They rode in silence for the first twenty minutes, Katlyn staring out the window the whole time.

"So, how long are you going to do this for?" Emily asked.

"Do what for?" Katlyn replied, not turning her gaze from the window.

"Avoid talking about what happened in San Francisco."

"You mean the fact that you pretended you wanted to fix things between us, then turned around a day later and slept with my boyfriend!" she spat, finally turning to face her sister.

"Katlyn, when I came to your room that day, I meant everything I said, but you have no idea how upset I was after we saw dad, then Mick showed up, and we were drunk, and things happened. I wish I could change that, but I can't, and I'm sorry."

"Is that supposed to make it better, the fact that you're sorry? You knew how much I cared about him!"

"I know, okay, I screwed up, I'm not the only one at fault here, and the truth is I was attracted to Mick the first time we met."

"Oh because that really justifies things, We. Were. Together, do I need to spell it out for you Emily?"

**Mick**

"_I'm miles from where you are, I lay down on the cold ground, and I pray that something picks me up and sets me down in your warm arms." Snow Patrol_

Mick stood at the sink in the BAU and splashed cold water on his face. How many times was he going to screw this up? He'd pushed her away when they'd been in the academy, even though pushing her away had been the last thing he'd wanted to do. Now, after getting a chance to be with her, he'd gone and ruined it by sleeping with Emily.

Not that there hadn't been a time when he'd wanted to sleep with Emily, she was attractive, and a lot like him in personality. He'd been attracted to her when they'd first met, and he'd considered taking her out or something when he'd found out they'd be working together again, but then he'd seen Katlyn. After the academy he'd truthfully never thought there paths would cross again, he'd gone to San Francisco and Katlyn into Missing Persons at Quantico.

He'd never been the kind of person to want commitment from a relationship, he'd been plenty content to play the field. Mick hadn't really been planning on changing that either, not until Katlyn had gotten hurt, he hadn't been able to fathom losing her after that.

**Three Weeks Later**

Mick pulled into the parking lot of FBI headquarters at Quantico, he hadn't been able to make the trip any sooner, but he had to talk to her, he'd screwed up big time, he knew that, but he cared about her. He'd timed his arrival in hopes of catching her leaving, and he'd gotten lucky. He could see her making her way across the parking lot, brown hair falling in loose waves around her shoulders, and headed toward her.

"Katlyn!" he called.

Her entire body tensed at the sound of his voice, he'd really done it this time.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, anger blazing in her eyes.

"I.. I'm sorry about what happened with Emily, look can we please go somewhere and talk?" he pleaded.

She shifted her weight between feet, before sighing,

"You flew across the country to talk?"

"You're the one who wouldn't answer the phone." he joked lightly.

"Fine, follow me back to my apartment, but Mick I make no promises about forgiving you, what you did…"

"Just a chance, that's all I'm asking for."

He followed her back to her apartment and up the stairs, she settled on the couch and gestured for him to sit. Keeping a respectable distance he sat down beside her, and she looked at him expectantly.

"Before I say anything else, Katlyn, I need you to know that I care about you, I'm completely out of my element in all of this, because with what I do for a living, I've made it a point not to get attached to people, especially romantically, it never ends well."

"Sleeping with my sister sure did a lot to show how much you care about me, really Mick." she said standing up and crossing the room to stare out the window.

"I know, before you joined the BAU, your team worked another case with mine, I was attracted to Emily, I won't lie about that, but Katlyn I never cared about her, not the way I do you. I got drunk, and she was there, and I let that old attraction get the best of me."

"Is that supposed to make it better," she yelled, turning back to him, he could see tears streaming down her face.

"Katlyn…" he rose to his feet and crossed the room, stopping a couple feet in front of her,

"I know that nothing I say is going to change the fact that it happened, and that I hurt you, I hate myself for that, more than you will ever know."

"You know, I knew this, us, it would never work, I don't know why I'm even angry, I guess I should be thankful it happened before things went any further." she cried.

He closed the distance between them and took her face in his hands, "Before I screwed up with Emily, what on earth made you think I didn't want this to work?"

"Mick, be serious, we're across the country from each other, it wouldn't have been long before you were tired of having to fly out to see me, before somebody else caught your interest. You're not the kind of guy who does committed, I knew that in the academy, and I still let myself fall for you then too." she said, pulling free of his grasp and turning away,

"I think it's best if you just go back, pretend this thing with us never happened."

He grasped her shoulders and spun her to face him, bringing his lips down against hers. Her body was still as stone against his for the first several seconds, then he could feel her lips start to respond. He wrapped his hand through her hair, holding her to him as tightly as he could.

"I have no intentions of pretending this never happened Katlyn," he said pulling back only a couple inches, "I want to make this work, I don't know how else to make you understand that."

**Katlyn**

"_And I, don't want to let you know I, drown in your memory. I, don't want to let this go I, don't.…" Vanessa Carlton_

Her arms instinctively wrapped back around his neck, and she kissed him again letting it intensify by the second, every bit of anger and hurt draining out into it. She'd never needed so badly to feel close to someone in her life. She let go of his neck, and pulled his shirt up over his chest, his arms barely left her long enough to pull it over his head, then he was working the buttons of her blouse and pushing it off her shoulders.

She wrapped her legs around his waist, and he held her there, against the wall, kissing her so hard it almost hurt. Then, he was carrying her,

"Left door," she said, barely parting her lips from his.

He lay her down on the bed, and slid off her pants, before slowly kissing back up her body. He unclasped her bra, and his lips began moving expertly over her breasts, causing her to gasp with pleasure. The rest of the clothes were shed in very little time, and he was inside her. She moved her hips against him, not once breaking the kiss. She had no idea how long they went on like this, before they were exhausted and just lying together her head on his chest.


	11. Chapter 11 Apologize

**Mick**

"_Do you know where your heart is? Do you think you can find it? Or did you trade it for something, somewhere better just to have it? Do you know where your love is? Do you think that you lost it? You felt it so strong, but nothing's turned out how you wanted." OneRepublic_

The sound of Mick's cell phone woke him, he shifted as gently as possibly off the bed, so not to wake Katlyn and walked into the kitchen. He glanced at the caller id and seeing that it was Emily, sighed.

"Emily now is not a good time," he said keeping his voice low.

"Mick I know I should have stopped what happened from happening, and that it was a mistake, okay. I just don't know what to do to make this right with Katlyn."

"Katlyn and I talked Emily, we're working things out, the only thing I can suggest is you to do the same, talk to her, she's had time to cool down, she'll listen." he told her.

"You're with her, aren't you?" Emily asked.

_What on earth did that matter? _Mick thought, before responding, she made it sound like he'd just been caught in some secret affair.

"Yes, I'm with her, I flew in yesterday, I had to fix things, make her understand that what happened with you and I was one of the worse mistakes I've ever made." he said.

He began digging through the cabinets and refrigerator, looking for something to cook. Starting a pot of coffee, he began cutting up vegetables for omelets.

"Something smells good," Katlyn said coming into the kitchen about twenty minutes later.

He glanced over his shoulder, "I thought I'd cook you breakfast, I hope omelets are okay."

"Sounds wonderful, I didn't know you could cook," she replied as she set to work fixing a cup of coffee.

"I'm no gourmet chef, but I do alright."

**Katlyn**

With the team not having anything to do so far that day, Mick had come with her to the BAU to hang around for a little while. They stood at the coffee makers talking to Derek, she and him had become good friends after that day at the park.

"Morning guys," Emily said, walking over to fix her own cup of coffee.

"Morning Emily," Derek greeted with a small nod of the head.

"Good morning," Katlyn said with a small smile.

"Morning," Mick greeted slightly raising his coffee cup in form of greeting

"Katlyn, could I talk to you for a minute?" she asked.

"Yeah," Katlyn replied, following Emily a few feet away.

She was still upset at Emily, but there was no need in continuing to be hostile about things. Emily took a deep breath before starting.

" Kay, I know you're still mad at me and you have every right to be, I betrayed you, I was drunk and angry and hurt and Mick, he was there and one thing led to another. I know that it doesn't make it better, but I never meant to hurt that way, you're my sister. I'm so sorry, I really am."

"I want to forgive you Emily, I do, I was so happy when we worked things out, to have my sister back. I let go of what happened with Zach, then the same thing happened with Mick, it's like it kills you to see me happy."

Zach was a subject she'd intended to let go, it was in the past. He'd been her boyfriend when she was sixteen and he'd ended up fooling around with Emily for about three months.

"You know about Zach?"

"Yeah, I do, he sent me an email right after I graduated to academy, he'd run into one of my friends and she'd told him I was joining the FBI. He said he wanted to congratulate me and that he was sorry he'd let you come between us. I was angry at first, but then I realized it was stupid to get mad over something that happened so long ago."

Just then, JJ came around the corner.

"Guys, conference room, we have a case."

Spencer had gone home to Las Vegas to see his mother, so Hotch put Katlyn and Derek together for this case.

"So," Derek started as they drove to the morgue to look at the victims bodies, "what did Emily want this morning?"

"To apologize for what happened with Mick."

"What did you say?" Derek pried.

"That I wanted to forgive her but I didn't know if I could, this is the second time it's happened."

"I know how much she upset you Katlyn, but do you really want you two to go the rest of your lives hating each other?" he asked.

Derek's question and several others were running through Katlyn's mind like wildfire as they worked on the latest case. What do you do when you love somebody but you don't trust them? When you want nothing more than to be in their arms, but are terrified of when they are going to seek solace in someone else's? She should be focusing she knew that, but her mind was in a different place completely. The case they were on was in Washington, so she'd be able to go home that night, no hotels, Mick was still in town, and no matter how much trouble she was having trusting him, forgetting what happened, she wanted nothing more than to be in his arms.

She shouldn't have forgiven him so easily, she'd told herself that a thousand times already. She'd asked for honesty, and he'd said he wanted something real, then he'd slept with Emily. Driving home that night, knowing Mick was in the car behind her, she'd planned to call things off, and she'd almost done it. Then he'd been there, so close, his deep brown eyes boring into hers just before he'd kissed her. His touch, as always, had sent a tidal wave of desire rushing through her, he was her weakness, and that scared her.

"_I'd take another chance, take a fall, take a shot for you. I need you like a heart needs a beat, but it's nothin' new. I loved you with a fire red, now it's turnin' blue. And you say, sorry, like an angel heaven let me think was you. But I'm afraid…" One Republic_


	12. Chapter 12 Anything But You

**Chapter 12. Anything But You**

"_I wanna be with you, if only for a night, to be the one who's in your arms who holds you tight." Mandy Moore_

When Katlyn pulled into her apartment complex, the first thing she noticed was Mick's rental car in the lot.

She'd given him the spare key that morning when they'd gotten called on the case. It was after two in the morning, they had two dead teenage boys in the span of a week and nothing to go on. Hotch had insisted they all go home and get some sleep and meet back at the station around seven in the morning.

She let herself into the apartment silently, not wanting to wake Mick who she was sure was already asleep. Heading straight to the shower, she peeled off her clothes and stepped under the hot stream of water. Closing her eyes, she began to let the day's tension drain out of her. She didn't even realize Mick had stepped in behind her until his hands began expertly working over her very tense shoulder and back muscles. Moaning softly, she let her body go completely slack against his hands.

"I figured you'd be asleep," she said glancing up to meet his eyes.

"Not hardly, I wanted to see how things went with the case."

His hands began massaging shampoo into her hair as she explained the details of the case to him. Truthfully, she was surprised at her ability to form a coherent sentence. What ability she'd maintained was lost when he turned her to face him so he could rinse her hair, their bodies teasingly brushing against each other as he worked.

Next thing she knew, he was kissing her deeply, his arms were securing her to him, and he was pressed deep inside her. She could feel her muscles begin reacting to him, and as he deepened the kiss she came harder than she'd known possible.

She was barely aware of him cutting the water off and carrying her to the bedroom, his lips barely leaving hers once. Everything else in the world seemed suddenly insignificant.

"Do you know what time it is?" she asked, what seemed like hours later.

She felt his body shift as he reached for his phone. The backlight's illumination almost blinding in the dark room.

"Fifteen until five," he said turning over and pulling her back to him, his lips traveling down her neck.

She buried her face in his chest, "You mean I'm supposed to be at work in two hours," she moaned, "Please tell me you're joking."

"I wish I could love, but I'm not. You should probably try to get some sleep."

She curled her body into the contours of his chest and fell asleep quickly, all too soon the blaring sound of her alarm waking them.

By the time she got to work, she was still exhausted with no one to blame but herself. Mick's flight left at six, which didn't exactly thrill her, she wasn't ready for him to leave yet.

"Kiddo, you still look dead on your feet," Derek said as they poured over the two boys' school files.

"I didn't get much sleep last night," she replied.

"It's always harder when the victims are young."

"Mmhm," she agreed, not wanting to divulge that her lack of sleep had nothing to do with the case, "Hey Derek, look at this, both boys were sent to the principal's office for bullying the same boy."

Forty-five minutes later, Katlyn and Derek stood in the lobby of the high school Shane Harris and Tyler Johanson had attended, waiting on their turn to speak with the headmistress, Marissa Wilkins.

When the woman walked out, she caught Derek's attention immediately. She had soft features, and skin the color of light mocha, her form fitting skirt and blazer showed of a perfect hourglass figure.

"Do try to wait until we're done with the interview to ask her out," Katlyn teased.

"What makes you think I'm interested? She may not even by my type," he retorted in a failed attempt to play it cool.

"Please Derek, as long as they're female, they're your type," she laughed.

"You must be agents Prentiss and Morgan," she said walking over with a warm smile and extending her hand, which they both shook, "I'm Marissa Wilkins."

"We need to ask you some questions about Mason Summers, according to Shane and Tyler's records they were both brought in for bullying him."

She led them to her office and began pulling files.

"Has Mason been in school this past week?" Katlyn asked as the woman worked.

"He was absent Tuesday and Friday, but that's nothing unusual, Mason is special needs."

"How so?" Derek asked.

"He's mildly retarded," she explained, "but he's a good kid, I really don't think he's your guy."

Katlyn and Derek exchanged glances, the murders had been committed on Tuesday and Friday, Mason was looking more and more like their culprit by the second. When they emerged in the hall, and made their way to a vacant office where they'd be interviewing Mason, Katlyn turned to Derek,

"He's our guy, I have no doubt about it."

Any doubt they'd had was wiped when they interviewed him. His stories didn't add up, and he had no alibis that could be checked out. They had no choice but to bring him in, and they'd been right to, within hours they had a confession.

"So much for a good kid," Katlyn sighed, sitting down to work on paperwork.

"_I won't suffer, be broken, get tired, or wasted, surrender to nothing, or give up what I started." 30 Seconds to Mars_


	13. Chapter 13 Today

**Chapter 13. Today**

Mick sat at a table across from Gina and Simms, it was Friday night, they'd just come off of a grueling case and decided to go out for a night on the town.

Normally, this kind of thing was right up his alley and he was the first one in, but truthfully at that moment it was the last place he wanted to be. It had been two weeks since he'd seen Katlyn, and part of him, the new insanely spineless lovesick part that he had no idea where'd come from, had actually considered flying to Virginia for a day just to see her.

"Mick!" the sound of Gina's voice snapped him back to reality.

He looked up to find her watching him apprehensively, her eyes questioning.

"What?" he asked, trying to figure out why she'd addressed him.

"She was just wondering if you wanted to dance," Simms said with a laugh, "You were kind of out in space."

_Kind of hell, _he thought, _I was in a whole other galaxy._

"I told you guys I wouldn't be much company tonight," he said standing up and extending his hand to Gina.

Gina was like the sister he'd never had, three years younger, she was his closest confidant. She'd been trying to find out what had him so distracted for days, not guessing in a million years it was Katlyn, because of his reputation with women, his team had automatically assumed she'd been nothing more than a fling. He hadn't told anyone it was her he'd taken off to see two weeks ago either.

"Mick, I'm worried about you," Gina said as they danced, "You haven't really been yourself in weeks. What's going on?"

Part of him was worried about confiding this one thing in her, mostly due to the fact Simms had suggested on more than one occasion that Gina's feelings for Mick weren't as platonic as his were for her.

"It's Katlyn," he said finally.

"The new girl from Hotchner's team?" she asked surprised, "What about her?"

"Well, I'm sure you're aware we were involved when her team was here those few days."

"Everybody became aware of that when we went to that club and you two started making out on the dance floor."

He laughed, "Yeah, I guess so, the thing is we didn't end things when she went back to Virginia."

"You didn't, wow, so you're actually trying the whole committed relationship thing?"

"Don't sound so surprised." he said.

"Mick, you're normally with a different girl every time I talk to you, surprised is an understatement," she laughed.

He stayed silent, not sure what else to say, it was different with Katlyn, he knew that and she knew that, and to him they were the only ones that mattered. There was no reason to stand there and try to rationalize things to Gina, to try to make her understand what it was that was different about Katlyn when even he wasn't sure.

"You really care about her don't you?" Gina asked, his silence having spoken volumes.

"Yeah, I do, I care about her and I miss her, and it's completely foreign territory." he admitted.

"_Just so you know this feeling's taking control of me and I can't help it." __Jesse McCartney_

**Katlyn**

Katlyn was sitting on the couch watching a movie when her phone rang. She was surprised to see Emily's number flashing on the ID.

"Hey Em, what's up?" she answered.

"Katlyn, hey, I'm sorry to bother you, but I need your help with something."

She brooded down at the phone, "Okay…I'm listening," she replied, intrigued, Emily had never asked for help with anything.

"Next month will mark Hotch's tenth year at the BAU, and I think we should do something to help him celebrate that, maybe a party…"

"And you need help planning it?" Katlyn guessed.

"How'd you ever guess," she laughed, "I'd ask Derek, but I'm scared we'd end up in another night club or with a stripper."

"Alright, so what do you have in mind? Formal, semi-formal, casual?"

"Part of me wants to go with formal, I mean this is a big deal for him."

"Okay so we call around about renting a ballroom in a nice hotel," she suggested. "But we need to get on it, we need to make sure the invitations are issued with at least a couple weeks head notice."

"Agreed, how about you, me and Garcia meet for coffee in the morning and start looking at venues, guest lists and such," Emily recommended.

"Sounds like a plan." Katlyn agreed.

"Okay, I'll see if Garcia is free and call you back."

"Sounds good," Katlyn said hanging up.

The next morning Katlyn, Garcia and Emily found a corner table at Starbucks and set to work, Garcia and Emily working on locations as Katlyn started forming a guest list.

"Should we invite Cooper's team?" she asked glancing up.

"I would, Cooper and Hotch are good friends." Emily said.

Katlyn had a printout Garcia had put together of people he associated most with at the bureau, BAU members not directly on their team, etc.

"Why are the names Elle Greenaway and Jason Gideon marked off, did they die or something?"

She wasn't unaware of the hesitant looks Garcia and Emily exchanged,

"One feels she shouldn't have asked," she muttered to herself.

"Gideon and Elle were on the team a few years ago," Emily started, "I was actually Elle's replacement and Gideon left not long after I joined. I don't know if anyone keeps in touch with Elle, but no one's heard from Gideon since he left."

"Has anybody tried finding them?" she asked, looking pointedly at Garcia, knowing that with her computer it wouldn't be that difficult.

"I'd feel like I was invading their privacy." Garcia said meekly.

"Garcia, we're not going after them, all I want to do is invite them to the party, mail an invitation or make a simple phone call." she said.

Katlyn hadn't been a member of the team long, but she'd seen the pictures on his shelf, of him and Haley, him and Jack, him and the current team, him and the team with two people she hadn't recognized, and now assumed were Gideon and Elle. She was pretty sure it would mean a lot for them to be there at the party.


	14. Chapter 14 The Longest Night

****Case is from the season finale of season 5/premier of 6. Next chapter will feature Gideon and Elle!**

**Chapter 14. The Longest Night**

Katlyn had managed to talk Garcia into trying to find some way to contact Elle Greenaway and Jason Gideon, though Garcia had insisted while she'd find an address or phone number, it would be up to Katlyn to make contact. She sighed, she really did need to learn to keep her mouth shut, now she was going to be inviting two ex-FBI agents she'd never met to a party for a boss she barely knew. The team had been very welcoming to her, but sometimes she still felt like a bit of a third wheel considering how long they'd all been working together.

She let herself into her apartment and began searching the kitchen for something to eat, finding nothing, she pulled out her cell and ordered a pizza. After hanging up, she let her finger hover over Mick's speed-dial button, she didn't want to seem like a clingy girlfriend and they'd just talked the previous night, but she wanted to hear his voice, she pressed down on the button and put the phone to her ear.

"Hello," she could hear loud music in the background when he picked up.

"Is this a bad time?" she asked.

"No, let me just get somewhere quiet…" he said, and she could hear the music fade to silence as he walked, "Sorry about that, Gina and Prophet drug me to a club." he explained.

"It's fine, I can call you back," she offered.

"I was just about to take off anyways, let me get home and I'll call you back, is that okay?"

"Of course."

She was in the middle of paying for the pizza when her cell rang, she quickly flipped it open and cradled it between her head and shoulder as she took the pizza from the delivery guy.

"Hey," she said, smiling as she closed the door.

"Hey gorgeous, what have you been up to?"

"I just got roped into helping Garcia and Emily plan Hotch's _Congratulations you made it ten years at the BAU _party," she explained, "They want to make it a big formal to-do."

"Really, when is it?" he asked.

"Next month, the seventeenth,"

"I'll have to make sure I get that weekend off," he said, "You're going to need your dashingly handsome escort."

"You are so full of yourself," she laughed.

They talked for the next hour and a half, him telling her about the case they'd just worked, her telling him just random antics of the team, including Spencer shooting a physics rocket off and it hitting Chief Strauss in the head, that hadn't gone over so well… The shrill beep of her call waiting interrupted them, she pulled the phone away to see the BAU's number flashing on the screen.

"That's the BAU, I'm gonna have to let you go." she said reluctantly.

Thirty minutes later they sat around the table in the conference room, JJ at the front of the room presenting the case.

"Los Angeles, California, five days ago these two women were raped, tortured and killed," she brought two pictures up on the projector, "Three days later this woman was repeatedly raped in front of her husband, who was later killed, the wife however seems to have intentionally been left alive."

"How do we know the cases are connected?" Derek asked.

"We don't, but both took place during the area's rolling blackouts, which was enough to give the authorities pause." she explained.

The team arrived in L.A. to find the station in obvious chaos, and were quickly introduced to Detective Nick Spicer, who was in charge of the case.

"The city is in the midst of the worse heat wave in years, which is why we started the rolling blackouts, and now I've got some crazed psychopath praying on people during them!" he exclaimed angrily.

"Why don't you just turn the power back on?" Rossi asked.

"We do that, we risk sending him back into hiding or worse blowing power to the whole city," Katlyn said pointedly.

"Your agent is right, that's the exact reason we haven't turned the power back on in the first place." Spicer said.

Not three hours later they received a phone call from Garcia explaining that she'd found similar cases stretching over the past three decades, the last spree in the area being in 1984, and that the man had left a baby alive, even more shocking was the fact that the baby was detective Nick Spicer, his parents having been among his first victims.

Katlyn exchanged surprised looks with Derek, Spicer had told them his parents had been killed in a car accident.

Not an hour later the entire team had been separated and were in complete oblivion to where the others were. The police had decided to turn the power back on and as they'd worried it had caused a complete blackout, and loss of cell service.

Derek and Spicer had been on their way to Spicer's sister's house, but when the team got there it was deserted. Katlyn felt a shiver of unease course through her body. They quickly established that the man had taken them to Spicer's childhood home and headed there.

When they arrived Derek was tied up on the floor, beaten, Spicer had been shot and his sister was bound and gagged on the bed, Spicer's daughter Ellie had been kidnapped by the unsub.

"_There's some things we don't talk about, rather do without." The Fray_

It was amazing what could happen in twenty-four hours, Katlyn couldn't believe it had only been that long, it was the worse case she'd ever worked. She couldn't stop thinking about poor Ellie Spicer and as she glanced over at Derek, she knew she wasn't the only one. This case had been the hardest on him, he blamed himself for Nick's death and what Ellie had endured. She reached over and put her hand on top of his, squeezing it reassuringly, not able to find any words to say.

They were all ready to go home, but Hotch had insisted they get some hotel rooms and rest up first, especially Derek who hadn't stopped even though he'd suffered a concussion. When they walked in to the hotel, she was so wrapped up in thought that she wasn't even paying attention to her surroundings.

"Katlyn!"

She turned to see Mick rising from one of the chairs in the lobby.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, walking over and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Cooper heard you guys were here and working a pretty serious case, after that it wasn't that difficult to figure out where you'd be staying." he replied, letting one arm circle her waist and bring the other hand up to her hair.

She was perfectly content to stay exactly as she was, but knew the rest of the team was watching curiously from behind and pulled away. He leaned down and picked up her bag putting it over his shoulder, then secured his arm back around her waist as they walked over to the team.

Katlyn was all to aware of Emily's stiffening posture as they neared, and Mick exchanged niceties with the rest of the team. Everyone finally cleared out, Derek taking Katlyn's bag up to their room, and leaving Mick and Katlyn alone in the lobby.

"Can I take you out to dinner?" he asked.

"Absolutely," she smiled.

He led her out to the parking lot and over to where his motorcycle was parked. She hadn't been sure he still had it, the last time she'd been on it was when they'd gone out while she was still in the academy. He pulled the spare helmet out and handed it to her, and she quickly strapped it on before sliding on behind him.

She clung to his waist as they sped through the streets, letting the speed and Mick's closeness replace her thoughts of the case. It wasn't until they were at the restaurant, seated across from each other, that she explained the previous day's events.

"When Cooper heard on the radio about the case and that the FBI had become involved he called Strauss to find out which unit, and I pretty much took off as soon as he said yours. I got in touch with your tech analyst to find out where you'd be staying," he explained.

Katlyn smiled and absentmindedly began fiddling with her fork,

"I'm really glad you came," she said finally, "I've been thinking about how much I wished you were so I could tell you everything that happened all day."

"_The last girl and the last reason to make this last for as long as I could. First kiss and the first time that I felt connected to anything." Snow Patrol_


	15. Chapter 15 Surprise

**Chapter 15. Surprise**

Katlyn was woken up by the shrill ringing of her cell phone, it was their first night home after the case in Los Angeles and she was exhausted. She felt for the phone in the dark and picking it up saw Garcia's name on the ID.

"Do you have any idea what time it is Garcia?" she asked groggily.

"Last time I looked at a clock, ten fifteen." she said, sounding much like a person who'd had too much coffee.

"It's three in the morning!" Katlyn exclaimed.

"Sorry, sorry, I just have exciting news, but I can call back in the morning…"

"No, go ahead," Katlyn said, repositioning herself on the bed, "What's up?"

"I found Gideon's phone number!" she said happily.

Katlyn grabbed a pen and wrote it down,

"Garcia, you are a genius! I'll give him a call tomorrow."

Beautifully enough Katlyn didn't have to be at the BAU the next morning, the entire team had the day off. About eleven she sat down with Gideon's number and her cell and gave him a call.

"Hello."

For some reason Katlyn hadn't been expecting him to answer and about jumped out of her skin when he did.

"Is this Jason Gideon?" she asked.

"Yes, who is this?" he asked a hint of suspicion filling his voice.

"My name is Katlyn Prentiss, you don't know me but I'm a member of Aaron Hotchner's team."

"Prentiss? Any relation to Emily Prentiss?" he asked curiously.

"Her sister actually." Katlyn replied.

"Well Ms. Prentiss, what can I do for you?"

"I'm calling because Emily is throwing a little party for Hotch because this will be his tenth year with the BAU, and I wanted to extend an invitation to you. I think it would mean a lot to him if you were there."

"When is it exactly?"

"It starts at 7 PM on November 15th, it's going to be at the Hilton in D.C."

"I'll do my best to be there," he replied.

"Thank you." she said hanging up the phone.

_Now to track down Elle Greenaway, _she thought as she picked the phone up to call Garcia and tell her about the conversation with Gideon.

Garcia had apparently been hard at work because by the time she hung up the phone she had Elle Greenaway's number in hand. That conversation going much like the one with Gideon, only Elle seemed much less sure that Hotch would want her there. Finally though, she managed to talk Elle in to coming

November 15th came quickly, Hotch gracious but not thrilled about having a fuss made over him. Katlyn stepped into the dress she'd bought for the occasion, a black, strapless number that fell to her ankles. Personally, Katlyn preferred jeans and tshirts but Emily had insisted on making this a formal event.

She'd barely gotten her black strappy heels on when the doorbell sounded. Grabbing her coat off the bed, she rushed to answer it. Mick looked incredibly handsome in his black suit, which he'd paired with a black button down and black tie.

"You look amazing," he said taking her coat and helping her into it.

There were already a ton of people at the hotel when they got there, more than Katlyn had realized they'd invited. Gideon and Elle had said they would call when they arrived. Katlyn quickly spotted Derek standing off to the side talking to Rossi and she and Mick made their way over to say hello.

It was almost half an hour into the party and Katlyn was out on the dance floor with Mick when her cell rang. She silently cursed their timing as she pulled away from Mick to answer it, then hurried out front with Emily and Garcia, the only ones in on the surprise, to meet them.

Garcia and Emily both gave Gideon warm hugs, followed by Garcia hugging Elle and introducing her to both Emily and Katlyn. Katlyn had taken care of introducing herself to Gideon while Garcia had been greeting Elle.

As they walked in to the hotel Garcia chattered away to the two about what had and hadn't changed with the team.

"You two aren't going to recognize Spencer, he looks so different…oh and David Rossi is back working with the BAU…"

When they got back into the room, Kaltyn, Emily and Garcia quickly made there way up onto the small stage while Gideon and Elle waited off to the side.

Garcia took the microphone off its podium,

"Can I have everyone's attention please," she called, continuing once all the chatter had died down, "First of all, we want to congratulate Hotch on his achievement of making it ten years in the BAU. That said the three of us," Garcia motioned dramatically between herself, Katlyn and Emily, "Wanted to get you something super special."

Katlyn could see Hotch's eyebrows lift from where she stood.

"Now mind you this something could not be wrapped and put in a box…but here it is," she said motioning to the side as Gideon and Elle made their way up on stage.

Katlyn truly wasn't sure who's reaction was better, Spencer, Derek or Hotch. The next hour was spent everyone catching up and talking the two into staying in town awhile, Katlyn offering her guest room to Elle and Spencer offering his to Gideon.

"_Life has moments, hard to describe, feeling great and feeling alive, never coming down from this." Aly and AJ_

****I'm not terribly thrilled with this chapter, but I've been insanely busy and haven't been able to devote as much time to writing as normal. There will be more Gideon and Elle in the next couple chapters at the very least.**


	16. Chapter 16 Three Words Eight Letters

****Rated M for sexual content. Nothing but fluff! Didn't get around to more Gideon and Elle but I will in the next chapter promise :D **

**Chapter 16. Three Words. Eight Letters. Say It and I'm Yours**

"Home sweet home," Katlyn said as she led Mick and Elle into her apartment.

Mick settled himself on the couch while Katlyn showed Elle around. It didn't take long, seeing as her apartment wasn't that big. She left Elle to settle in the guest room and headed back into the living room, barely making it over the threshold before being scooped up in Mick's arms.

She squealed in mock fright, the sound being cut off by his lips finding hers. He carried her into the bedroom, kicking the door shut behind them and lay her down on the bed, his eyes not leaving hers as he guided the dress off her body. She rose up onto her knees and began swiftly undressing him, letting her lips explore the newly revealed skin.

All of her clothing removed, Mick began letting his lips travel down her body, gently nibbling at her breasts then letting his lips travel further down to her thighs. Having his mouth so dangerously close to her core was enough to make Katlyn want to scream. With Mick and her getting to see each other so little, their reunions had always been very heated.

He easily pinned her hands above her head, and she moaned deeply as he finally entered her, arching her back to him, pushing him in even deeper, before he teasingly pulled out and came back in again, causing her to climax, her body's convulsion pushing him in even deeper. Eventually they collapsed back beside each other, her head resting on his chest, while his fingers traced along her spine, her body shivering slightly under his touch. She tilted her head up and began kissing his neck, letting her teeth graze playfully at the skin. Suddenly he had her on her back and pressed back into her fast and hard. Her hands found his shoulders and her nails dug into the skin, raking down his back as he moved his hips against her body.

When they finally broke apart again, they lay facing each other, exchanging lazy kisses as he went back to stroking her back and hair.

**Mick**

"_Oh you know, I'd never ask you to change. If perfect is what you're searching for then just stay the same" Bruno Mars_

_It was only three words, eight letters, why the hell was it so hard to say,_ Mick wondered to himself annoyed.

_Baby steps, _he reminded himself again, that was what he'd been telling himself since the plane trip there. He wanted to ask her to move to San Francisco, to move in with him, he hated being so far away from her, but he knew there was something he needed to tell her first. He should have told her this sooner, he was going to overwhelm her if he did things the way he planned. It had only been four months since they'd ran into each other that first time at the BAU, and here he was ready to lay everything on the line.

He took a deep breath, the sudden action drawing Katlyn's attention.

"Is something wrong?" she asked trailing her fingers down his chest.

Things were the furthest from wrong they'd ever been in his life, and that's exactly what he was trying to figure out how to tell her.

"No, nothings wrong," he said, leaning down to kiss her forehead, "Actually there is something I wanted to.. ah.. tell you," he continued.

"Well you have my full attention," she said propping herself up on her elbow and fixing her eyes on his.

He reached out and gently stroked the side of her face with his hand.

"Truthfully I should have told you this three years ago, because against the rules or not I felt the same way even when I was teaching you in the academy," he laughed, "Katlyn Prentiss, you have become a very important part of my life, I hope you know that,"

He reached down and pulled the tiny black box from his suit jacket, suddenly feeling uncharacteristically nervous. He'd planned this differently, maybe during a romantic dinner, but at that moment he couldn't seem to find a reason to wait.

"I know you and I have only technically been dating a few months, but I hate being away from you Katlyn. I love you…"

He was surprised at the reaction those three words brought, her eyes lighting up like a child's on Christmas.

"I love you too," she said leaning forward and kissing him deeply.

"There's something else, something I wanted to ask you and I know it's sudden, but how would you feel about moving to San Francisco with me?"

**Katlyn**

Her eyes widened in surprise, she loved Mick, but what about her team? The career she'd built for herself, she wasn't exactly sure she wanted to leave that behind.

"Mick, I want more than anything to be able to see you everyday…"

She was cut off by him producing a small black box from behind his back, her words lost in the shock of what she thought the box contained. His fingers lifted the lid of the box containing to reveal one of the most beautiful rings Katlyn had ever seen. The band was platinum with two aquamarine hearts meeting in the center of the ring, four small diamonds resting on each side.

"Katlyn Prentiss, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

His brown eyes were boring into hers and she was pretty sure at some point her heart had stopped. This was everything she'd ever wanted, but she also had to think about her position on the BAU, something she didn't want to give up. She leaned across and pressed her lips against his again.

"Mick, I want nothing more than to marry you…"

"But..." he replied, having picked up the hesitation in her voice.

"I don't want to leave my position with the BAU, this job is everything I hoped for when I was in the academy." she said, unable to meet his eyes.

Mick laughed, "That's your only hesitation?"

She glanced up to find his eyes still transfixed on her, "Absolutely."

"Then I'll move here maybe see if the Academy has a teaching position open, or I can find another opening in the bureau, one that's nearby. Katlyn, I'm not above compromise."

She couldn't help the smile that spread across her face, "You mean it?" she asked, "You'd do that."

"In a heartbeat, if it means getting you to accept this ring. So again I ask, Katlyn Prentiss, will you marry me?"

"Yes, absolutely, tomorrow if you want," she laughed, holding a shaky hand out for him to slide the ring onto.

"_Three words. Eight letters. Say it and I'm yours." Blair Waldorf _

****Link to picture of the engagement ring on my profile :D**


	17. Chapter 17 The Announcement

**Chapter 17. The Announcement**

"_You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter, you are the best thing that's ever been mine." Taylor Swift_

Katlyn was practically on Cloud 9 when she got to work the next morning. Mick would be gone by the time she got home, but she didn't care, the next time she saw him, if everything went right, he would be there permanently.

She made her way over to Derek's desk, he'd become one of her closest friends at the BAU and she wanted to share the news with him first.

"You seem in an awful good mood this morning," he said as she sat down on the corner of his desk.

In response, Katlyn happily held her hand out, Derek glanced down, the ring immediately catching his eye,

"Is that what I think it is Katlyn?" he asked.

"That depends on if you think it's an engagement ring or not," she responded happily.

"Congratulations!" he said giving her a hug, "I have to ask though, what about the distance?"

"He's moving here, he's back in San Francisco for now, but when he comes back, it should be permanently." she said, a smile crossing her face at the prospect, "He's talking about getting a job with the bureau here or at the academy."

"Well then, why don't I see if I can round everybody up and you can share the good news," he replied.

"It doesn't need to be a big production," she said.

"Too bad kid, we could use some good news around here," he said before getting up and disappearing

Not ten minutes later she stood at the front of the conference room, everybody looking up at her with anticipation, even Elle and Gideon, who had been there visiting.

"I have some news…" she started, somewhat hesitantly.

"Well, don't leave us in suspense, spill girl," JJ said.

"Mick and I are engaged!" she cried happily.

She was quickly overwhelmed with hugs and congratulations, having to explain again that Mick was moving there.

**Emily**

Emily had hung back slightly after Katlyn's announcement, she was shocked to say the least. She hadn't pursued Mick when they'd first met because of the distance, because she hadn't thought he'd be the type to give up everything for a girl the way Will had. The truth was she cared about Mick a great deal, she'd been more than a little jealous when he'd shown up in L.A. to see Katlyn, and now…she couldn't even put into words what she was feeling.

She made her way over to her sister to congratulate her, she would deal with her own mind later, she wasn't going to deny Katlyn this.

She hadn't been back at her desk long when she sensed a presence behind her, glancing up from her paper work she was surprised to see Gideon standing there. She hadn't been with the BAU long when Gideon had left and hadn't had the opportunity to get close to him the way the rest of the team had.

"Would you like to go get some coffee?" he asked.

"Sure," she replied, slightly confused.

Twenty minutes she sat across from Gideon at a corner table in Starbucks.

"So you're in love with your sisters fiancé," it was a statement, not a question.

Emily looked at him dumbfounded, trying to figure out how he'd possibly ascertained that so quickly, she'd forgotten how perceptive he was.

"So how did it happen?"

"I met Mick before Katlyn joined the team, before they were even technically dating. We were helping his team with a case and developed this flirtatious relationship, nothing ever became of it though, because I didn't think things would work out because of the distance. Shortly after Katlyn joined the team Mick showed up because Cooper needed our help again. Apparently, Mick had been Katlyn's mentor in the academy and they were very close. While we were in San Francisco that closeness escalated and they started dating," Emily sighed, "Everything was fine until Mick and I ended up having a little too much to drink and things, well, happened. The biggest problem was, what happened made me realize I cared about him…and now him and Katlyn are engaged and I'm trying to be happy for her, I am…"

"Emily, you are one of the smartest, most fiercely loyal and caring people I ever had the pleasure of working with. When you care about someone, you care about them with your whole self, I don't know your sister that well, but from what I've talked to her, you seem very similar in that department. Things will work themselves out, I know that doesn't sound very helpful right now, but they will."

Emily sighed, "Thanks Gideon, for coming here and talking to me, and you're right things will work out, in there own time."

"_Maybe I should've seen the sign, should've read the writing on the wall, and realized by the distance in your eyes that I would be the one to fall." Taylor Swift_


	18. Chapter 18 Enough For Me

****Here is chapter 18, purly filler...the next two will be Mick's return and the wedding/honeymoon...Chapter 20 will conclude the fic. Thank you to everyone who's stuck with me :D**

**Chapter 18. Enough For Me**

**Mick**

"_Well I'm going home, back to the place where I belong, and where your love has always been enough for me." Daughtry_

Mick made his way over to Cooper's desk as soon as he got to the warehouse. He hated doing this, he really did, but he'd long since realized Katlyn was more important to him than anything.

"Have a nice break?' Cooper asked as Mick sat down across from him.

"I did," he replied, shifting uncomfortably.

"Good, good, so what's on your mind?"

He fingered the envelope in his hand which contained his resignation, it suddenly felt like it weighed fifty pounds.

"Cooper you know I appreciate the opportunity you've given me, being apart of your team right?"

"Of course,' he replied settling back in his chair, "Mick, you are one of the best snipers I've ever seen."

"I appreciate that, you've become like a second father to me since I joined, and that makes what I'm about to say even harder." he took a deep breath, "When I was in Washington, I proposed to Katlyn."

"And…?" Cooper asked.

"She accepted, but she doesn't want to leave her team."

"So you're leaving yours." Cooper said simply.

"The job she has with the BAU is everything she's ever wanted, I'm not going to ask her to give that up…I can't" he replied, handing the envelope to Cooper, "I'll make sure everything is tied up before I leave, give you time to find a replacement."

"So when are you planning to tell Gina and Simms?"

"Today," he said with a sigh.

Three hours later he sat with Simms and Gina at a table in a local café the three frequented on slow days.

"So guys I have a bit of an announcement to make," he started, drawing both of their attention, "When I was in Washington, I proposed to Katlyn and she accepted."

"Wow! Congrats man," Simms said clapping him on the shoulder.

"That's great, really great, I'm so happy for you." Gina added with a warm smile.

"You may want to hold that thought… because the rest isn't going to make you happy, I'm moving to Washington to be with her."

"You're leaving the team?" Gina asked incredulously.

"Yes, as soon as things are tied up here and Cooper has found my replacement, I'm gone."

Both Gina and Simms looked grave, with the small size of the team the three had become very close friends.

**Katlyn**

When Katlyn got home the first thing she noticed was her personal cell lying on the table, she'd grabbed her bureau issued one that morning but forgotten that one. She grabbed it and saw she had five text messages and two voicemails. _Of course I'd be in popular demand today, _she thought checking the texts first, to find they were all from Mick, starting with "What are you doing right now?" and ending with "Why aren't you responding? I'm starting to worry." After seeing both voicemails were from him as well, she quickly dialed his number.

"About time gorgeous, I was starting to panic a little."

"I left my cell on the table this morning and only had my work phone, I'm sorry."

"It's fine, how was your day?"

"It wasn't bad, a lot of paperwork and I told everybody about our engagement," she said unable to stop herself from smiling again, "What about you?"

"Paperwork, told my team I was tying the knot and tendered my resignation, very productive I'd say."

"Mick are you sure about this, about moving here?" she asked suddenly feeling incredibly selfish that he was going to be the one to give up his job.

"Absolutely Katlyn, you're not giving up the BAU. Plus, Emily's there and Derek, and it seems like you and Elle are getting on pretty well."

"Actually her and I are going to go catch a movie tonight, sadly her and Gideon leave tomorrow but they both assured me they'd be back for the wedding," she said happily.

She and Mick talked for another half hour, during which time she ordered the tickets for the movie and began doodling wedding plans in a notebook. She'd decided to ask Emily to be her maid of honor and JJ and Garcia to be bridesmaids, she'd also considered Elle but not knowing her that well, decided to keep her as a guest.

"So have you started making plans for the wedding?" Elle asked as they drove to the theater.

"I've decided on bridesmaids, and jotted down a few names as a start of a guest list, but that's about it." she said honestly.

"So your dad freaking about giving his baby girl away?"

She hadn't even considered that yet,

"Actually, I haven't heard from my dad in a long time…I hadn't even thought about someone to walk me down the aisle…"

The only person that came to mind to ask was Derek.


	19. Chapter 19 Mick's Return

****Super short and not that fantastic but my muse isn't cooperating, sorry guys! Next chapter will be the wedding and end of the fic**

**Chapter 19. Mick's Return**

Katlyn lay on the couch talking to Mick, he was still a month out of being able to come back and she missed him like crazy, but they talked on the phone daily.

"So I have a little surprise for you," he said.

"Really, what?" she asked intrigued.

"Look out the window."

She rose to her feet and walked over, pushing the curtain back she saw a black car parked beside hers, Mick leaning against its side. She dropped the phone and took off at a dead run out the door, by the time she got out the door he was standing in front of the car, arms extended. Katlyn launched herself at him and he easily lifted her off the ground and spun her around.

"I missed you," she murmured against his cheek.

"I missed you too," he replied crushing her lips against hers.

He carried her into the apartment, shutting the door behind them and pressing her back up against it. She returned his kiss eagerly, her hand finding his hair and clasping him to her. When they finally broke apart she was breathless.

"So how long are you staying for?" she asked, they were sitting on the couch at this point, and she was laying with her head in his lap.

"Didn't I make you a promise?" he asked raising one eyebrow.

It took her a minute to fully comprehend those words, "You mean there's no more leaving? You're here to stay?" she asked excitedly.

"That is exactly what I mean," he replied stroking her hair, "My stuff is in transit as we speak, mind you it's really hard to find someone to move you cross country."

She laughed, "We should go out and celebrate."

"Alright, do you want to call everybody or…"

"Not tonight, tonight I am monopolizing your attentions."

"That is the best offer I've had in awhile." he said kissing her deeply again.

The next two weeks were a flurry of activity with Mick getting settled in and two cases coming up consecutively, Mick consulted on both, thrilling Katlyn as it meant he traveled with them. She hadn't been ready to be apart from him again, even if only for a few days.

"So what do you think of January?" she asked Mick, as she sat curled against his shoulder on the way home from the most recent case.

"I think January is cold, why?" he asked.

She laughed and playfully shoved him on the shoulder, "I mean for the wedding, wouldn't a winter wedding be absolutely gorgeous?"

"If you want a winter wedding then we'll have a winter wedding," he said.

She smiled and pulled up the calendar on her phone, "How about the 22nd?"

"Sounds perfect," he replied with a smile.

"You could care less couldn't you?" she laughed.

"Katlyn all I care about is marrying you, it doesn't make one lick of difference to me the day or the month or the season for that matter."

"You're such a guy," she laughed, shaking her head.

She thought of Emily, Gina, JJ and Garcia trying to decide on a bridesmaid dress, briefly hoping whatever she chose didn't clash with Garcia's hair color, considering there was no way to predict what color it would be by then. Ice blue, silver or lavender were the first three colors that popped into her head. She'd really asked Gina only because she was so close to Mick and hadn't wanted to leave her out. Cooper would be the best man, Simms, Hotch and Spencer groomsmen.

So they had a date, Derek would be walking her down the aisle, and they had groomsmen and bridesmaids. Most importantly though Mick was there to stay and she couldn't have been happier.


	20. Chapter 20 The First Day of Forever

****Shortest fanfiction chapter ever, I know. I'm sorry but life has been hectic and I really wanted to draw this to a close :D**

**Chapter 20. The First Day of Forever**

"I'm nervous," Katlyn said to Derek as they waited for their cue.

"You'll be fine, just remember you're marrying Mick, this is everything you've wanted." he reassured her.

"I know, I know, all brides get cold feet though don't they?"

"It does seem to be a popular trend, yes." he joked lightly.

Just then the music started, Katlyn took a deep breath as the doors opened.

**Mick**

Katlyn hadn't let him see the dress before that moment, as she walked towards him down the aisle Mick couldn't take his eyes off of her. The dress was white and sequined, with a neckline slit almost to the navel and fell to the floor with a short train behind it. She was positively breathtaking and there were times even in that moment he couldn't believe she was his.

Her warm brown eyes didn't leave his as Derek placed her hand in his. She was beautiful, her smile practically lit up the whole room.

**Katlyn**

She could barely control her shaking hands as she slid the wedding band on Mick's hand.

"With this ring I thee wed," she said, her voice almost a whisper and shaking as badly as her hand.

Moments later his lips were pressed deeply against hers, and he surprised her by sweeping her off her feet and carrying her back down the aisle. She was happier than she'd ever been in her entire life.

"_I will, love you still, from the depths of my soul, it's beyond my control, I've waited so long to say this to you. If you're asking do I love you this much, I do." Mark Wills_


End file.
